Bio

As a founding partner of the firm’s Dallas office, Christina Tate focuses her practice in M&A, securities and private equity transactions. With substantial knowledge of the middle market, she guides clients throughout each phase of the investment life cycle—from initial acquisitions, to company management, to exit transactions. Christina is a founding partner of the Dallas office of Winston & Strawn LLP. She is a partner in the firm’s M&A, securities and private equity practices. She also serves as co-lead of the firm’s private equity food and beverage industry vertical. Christina focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions, with an emphasis on private equity firms and their portfolio companies. As a trusted advisor to middle market private equity funds, she counsels her clients throughout each phase of the investment life cycle—from deal sourcing and platform acquisitions, to add-on transactions and portfolio company management, to liquidity and exit transactions. Her M&A experience also includes representing management teams, founders and strategic clients in public and private mergers, acquisitions, carve-out transactions and divestitures. As an advisor to portfolio companies, Christina guides management teams and boards of portfolio companies through a wide range of legal and business challenges, utilizing her commercial judgment and understanding of the business of her clients to answer questions that arise every day and achieve successful outcomes. Her experience includes negotiating numerous commercial contracts (such as customer, supply, distribution, logistics and joint development agreements) and other complex business arrangements. She has “sticky” relationships with her clients and has often continued to represent companies after sales transactions to different owner groups. Christina also has extensive experience with advising public and private companies on securities offerings and capital markets transactions (including initial, follow-on and secondary public offerings), and advises strategic and financial clients in a variety of other corporate matters, including securities law disclosure, corporate governance, fiduciary obligations and compliance matters. Her breadth of experience includes advising on related party transactions, minority investments, co-investment activity, investment management, failed investments, joint ventures and other strategic relations. Christina has served as lead deal counsel for her clients in a variety of industries, including consumer products, food and beverage, downstream and midstream energy, retail, building products, media, advertising, health care services, pharmaceuticals and insurance. Her transactional experience includes negotiating and completing nearly 50 deals in the consumer products and food and beverage sectors.