Bio

W. Benjamin Barkley advises public and private clients in a broad range of corporate finance transactions and securities regulatory matters, including mergers and acquisitions; public offerings and private placements of debt and equity securities; venture capital and private equity investments; compliance with securities disclosure obligations; corporate governance; corporate restructurings; recapitalizations and distressed situations; joint ventures and strategic alliances; and special committee, board and independent director counsel. Ben has broad experience structuring and executing mergers and acquisitions and other control transactions, including extensive experience representing strategic buyers in consolidating industries, leading serial acquisition programs including from 10 to 120 acquisitions. He has handled public and private issuances of debt securities in transactions ranging in size from $20 million to $1.35 billion, including Rule 144A offerings, high yield 144A-for-life bond offerings, investment grade public debt offerings, institutional private placements, and Exxon Capital debt exchange offerings. Ben also has extensive experience with equity offerings ranging in size from $10 million to more than $1 billion, including initial public offerings, secondary offerings, at-the-market continuous offerings, and PIPES transactions. Ben was listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Corporate, Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Securities/Capital Markets Law in 2019 and each of the ten years immediately preceding and again in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 for Corporate, Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity, Mergers and Acquisitions, Securities/Capital Markets, and Securities Regulation Law. He was also named the 2017 "Atlanta Lawyer of the Year" for Securities Regulation Law, the 2022 "Atlanta Lawyer of the Year" for Corporate Law, and the 2023 "Atlanta Lawyer of the Year" for Securities Regulation Law by The Best Lawyers in America®. Ben is listed in the 2023 and the 14 years immediately preceding editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business as a leading lawyer for Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions and in the 2009, 2011, 2012, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 editions of Legal 500 US for Mergers & Acquisitions. In 2022, clients named Ben as a "BTI Client Service All-Star" in recognition of his client service excellence. He was also named as a top “Dealmaker” of 2008 by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2004 for being one of Atlanta’s “Up and Comers – Under 40 and Rising,” and has been recognized as a 2009 Georgia "Super Lawyer" for Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Securities Law by Super Lawyers magazine, and again in 2018 and the seven years immediately preceding for Mergers & Acquisitions. In 2012, 2013 and 2014, Ben was recognized as one of Georgia Trend's “Legal Elite” for Corporate Law. He previously served as Deputy Managing Partner of the firm, and as Chairman of the Corporate Department. Ben is AV® rated by Martindale-Hubbell.*