James Kardon helps investors, entrepreneurs, issuers, investment advisers and investment bankers navigate the complexities of funding or investing in new companies, growing established private companies, raising funds privately or going public, and embarking upon often complex mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. Clients appreciate his calm demeanor and deep understanding of both their businesses and market cycles.
James helps clients launch angel and venture capital private financings, make private investments in public entities (PIPE), and form hedge and private equity funds. He plays a pivotal role in initial and follow-on public offerings, public company and securities compliance, and activist investor issues. His acumen extends to mergers and acquisitions, encompassing a spectrum of transactions from public company combinations to purchases and sales of private companies, as well as businesses and other assets in bankruptcy. Moreover, James provides valuable counsel and strategic guidance in reorganizations, executive compensation, joint ventures and other general corporate matters.
James has served as counsel in international transactions, including the sale of a Spanish company operating in seven Latin American companies, Hong Kong and Israel; the organization of off-shore private equity funds; shipping finance; and private equity investing in China, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Georgia. He also supports nonprofit endeavors and serves as their legal counsel.
Through speaking engagements and various publications, James regularly shares insights with clients and industry groups, such as the Practicing Law Institute, on various topics including PIPEs, issuance of equity in bankruptcy, down rounds, limited liability companies, equity kickers for lenders, and legal ethics.
- French (fluent)
- Italian (spoken)
- Spanish (reading)
- PIPEs (private investments in public entities) and other private placements on behalf of investors, investment bankers and issuers
- Public offerings on behalf of issuers, underwriters and selling stockholders
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Acquisition and disposition of businesses in bankruptcy
- Negotiation of equity interests for mezzanine lenders in bankruptcies
- Formation of financial advisory firms and broker dealers
- Financial advisory/investment banking engagements
- Organization of joint ventures
- Investments in private equity funds
- Preparation of private placements of securities for early stage companies, hedge funds and private equity funds
“Introduction to Private Investment Funds”
Lexis Practice Advisor, 2017
“Protecting Minority Securityholder Rights”
Lexis Practice Advisor, 2014
Professional
- American Bar Association
- New York City Bar Association
Community
- Director of The Riverside Opera Ensemble Inc. (26 music theater productions since 1984)
Back in my college days at Harvard, I wrote numerous plays and even won a poetry fellowship to live in Paris. In 1976, I translated and adapted a French cookbook. Its original title was La Cuisine des Pauvres, which was translated (not so directly) into The People’s Cookbook. I will still occasionally consult and cook from it, and those recipes hold up. I also enjoy golf, swimming and gardening.