Helene R. Banks

Helene Banks is chair of Cahill’s M&A and Corporate Advisory practice group and a thought leader in the increasingly complex ESG arena.

Helene advises publicly-held and private companies in significant corporate and securities matters, with particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and capital markets transactions. She has represented sellers, acquirers, targets, financial institutions, shareholders and investors in M&A transactions, spin-offs, joint ventures, private and public equity and debt offerings, and tender offers. Her work ranges from managing complex international transactions for large public companies to guiding owners through investments in their privately held businesses to advising companies as they progress in their ESG journeys. Her breadth of experience gives her a unique ability to spot and solve issues and understand all aspects of complicated situations.

Helene is recognized as a leading M&A and Corporate Governance lawyer by The Legal 500 and for both M&A and Capital Markets Debt & Equity by IFLR1000. In 2024, Helene was named an honoree at NOW-NYC’s 2024 Women of Power & Influence Awards and highlighted as a notable ESG thought leader and grant-making trailblazer for women’s rights entities. In 2023, Helene was recognized as a Notable Leader in Sustainability by Crain’s New York Business and in Lawdragon's 500 Leading Dealmakers in America guide. Helene has been shortlisted for the Women in Business Law Awards Americas, Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year in 2021 and 2022. She was also named among the Top 100 Women Leaders of New York for 2021 by Women We Admire and the 2020 Notable Women in Law by Crain’s New York Business.

Helene frequently speaks and writes on ESG, M&A, corporate governance, and board diversity issues. She has been published in Practical Law, NACD BoardTalk, NACD Directorship, Law360, The Deal, New York Law Journal and Corporate Secretary and has spoken on these topics at numerous industry events including The Deal’s Corporate Governance conference and Middle Market Seminar, S&P Global Sustainable1’s “Beyond ESG” webinar series, Mergers & Acquisitions’ Most Influential Women in Mid-Market M&A Speak and PE Innovators in ESG Speak events, and ACG NY’s Women of Leadership Summit. Please click here to read her latest article in The Deal, “Financings Hinge on Effective ESG Due Diligence.”

Selected Matters

M&A Transactions:

• Representation of S&P Global’s Sustainable1 business in its acquisition of The Climate Service, Inc., a leading climate analytics provider.
• Representation of S&P Global in connection with formation of Novata Inc., a public benefit corporation that provides the private markets with a cutting-edge Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) solution. The Company was formed by a unique consortium of not for profit and for profit entities. 
• Representation of Coca-Cola Enterprises in its cross-border combination with Coca-Cola Iberian Partners and Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränk to create the world's largest bottler of Coca-Cola products under a newly formed UK entity Coca-Cola European Partners plc.
• Representation of founders of Bluewolf Group, the largest Salesforce cloud consulting partner, in its sale to IBM.
• Representation of Airborne in its sale to Schiff Nutrition Group, Inc.
• Representation of Lorillard, Inc. in its acquisition of the assets of BLU electronic cigarettes.
• Representation of SP Newsprint in its sale out of bankruptcy to creditors led by GECC.
• Representation of a private middle-market tech company in the sale of a controlling interest to a private equity buyer and a subsequent acquisition.
• Representation of Elan Corp. plc in connection with the approximately $960 million sale of Elan Drug Technologies to Alkermes, Inc. executed through an inversion to Ireland. 
• Representation of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. in connection with the approximately $13 billion sale of its North American business to The Coca-Cola Company, the spin-off of its European operation and the acquisition of the Norwegian and Swedish businesses of The Coca-Cola Company.

Capital Markets / Corporate Finance Transactions:

• Representation of underwriters and initial purchasers in connection with the sale of preferred stock and senior notes of Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors LLC.
• Representation of the underwriters in connection with the sale of senior notes by Donnelly Financial Solutions, Inc. and LSC Communications Inc. in separate public offerings conducted in connection with the spin off by RR Donnelly & Sons Company of those two companies.
• Representation of selling shareholders in connection with the sale of common stock of Choice Hotels International, Inc.
• Representation of the initial purchasers in several Rule 144A/Reg S Offerings of Senior Notes of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co.

Helene was the first female partner elected in Cahill's corporate practice group and mentors many of the female corporate associates of the firm. Helene serves on the boards of the New York Women's Foundation, the Baruch College Fund, and Mitchell College. She served as a member of the National Women’s Law Center Leadership Advisory Committee, the development committee of the YMCA of New York City and the Grants Advisory Committee of the New York Women’s Foundation. She also served on the Board of Trustees of the Tada! Youth Theater and was the Board Chair at the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School where she is a Trustee Emeritus.