About Robert E. Richards Jr.
Bob is known for his ability to “get a deal done and get it done right.” His active transactional practice focuses on private company mergers and acquisitions across a wide variety of industries. He quickly understands the business of his client, identifies the client’s transactional goals and ardently, yet professionally, meets those goals through completion of a successful transaction. One of Bob’s true skills is identifying potholes that invariably arise in a transaction and finding solutions that are acceptable to all parties to complete the transaction to meet the goals of his client. In transactional law there are lawyers who are deal makers and those who are deal breakers, Bob chooses to be a deal maker.
Bob also represents businesses throughout their operational life cycles, often forming the entity and thereafter negotiating financing transactions and contractual relationships that drive its financial performance. And since every company needs a home, Bob works with his clients to complete transactions for the purchase, sale, leasing and financing of commercial real estate. Business owners will invariably face challenging legal issues in their day-to-day operations and will seek Bob out for reasoned legal advice viewed through the prism of the practical needs of the business to achieve a prompt solution to the challenge.
The ultimate challenge that a business owner may face is a downturn in revenue, which may give rise to difficult relationships with lenders, creditors and customers. Bob works with each client to push through these challenging times, coordinating with colleagues in the firm’s restructuring practice, to find solutions to difficult relationships, giving the business the opportunity to achieve renewed success. Our restructuring practice also provides Bob with the tools to work with clients to pursue opportunities to grow their business through the acquisition of a troubled third-party business according to terms that meet the needs of the client.
Representative Engagements
Business Transactions
- Counsel to a national pharmaceutical marketing company in the sale of its assets to a leading health information services provider.
- Counsel to a Massachusetts-based franchisee of a national burger chain in the purchase of 13 franchise restaurant locations in the Midwest from an existing franchisee.
- Counsel to Minnesota-based supplier of parts for the asphalt equipment industry in the sale of its assets.
- Counsel to a Massachusetts-based provider of automatic identification, data capture (“AIDC”) and factory automation solutions to national retailers in a merger with an affiliate of a national private equity firm operating in a variety of industries and an associated lease of the commercial warehouse headquarters. The transaction was a component of a roll-up of peers in the AIDC market.
- Counsel to a large Massachusetts-based regional franchisee of three national truck manufacturers in a peer-to-peer consolidation with another well-known regional franchisee creating a substantial New England presence in the trucking sales market.
- Counsel to a Massachusetts-based franchisee of a national burger chain in the sale of 10 franchise locations to the existing franchisee and the negotiation with location landlords for the assignment of location leases.
- Counsel to the seller in the sale of assets of a regional refuse disposal and container business and the lease of four site locations.
- Counsel to a Massachusetts-based supplier of lumber and building materials to an independent retail lumber and building materials dealers in the Northeast in the sale of its business to one of the largest lumber and building suppliers in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, including a long term lease of the related Massachusetts business facility to the buyer.
- Counsel to the lead investor in the production of a critically-acclaimed movie profiling a controversial well-known artist and photographer, services included reviewing industry related financing documents and various security documents and production contracts.
- Counsel to First Eastern Bankshares Corporation, First Federal Savings Bank of Boston and First Eastern Mortgage in their merger with and into Randolph Bancorp and Randolph Savings Bank, which included the sale of a branch location in the financial district of Boston.
- Counsel to a Boston-based employee benefit business in the sale of its business to an insurance products affiliate of a regional financial institution.
- Counsel to the seller of a residential condominium management and concierge business to a national industry leader.
- Counsel to a minority shareholder of a family-owned automotive group in the sale of dealership assets and the structured settlement of ownership issues.
- Counsel to a Federal savings bank in a consolidation transaction with a subsidiary and associated restructure of contractual relationships with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other institutional lenders.
- Counsel to a minority partner of a family-owned business in the purchase of an established family entertainment complex and a manufactured home community and associated parcels of real property in the Metro-Boston area.
- Counsel to the seller of automotive dealership assets and associated real estate to an established foreign dealership franchisee.
- Counsel to the seller in the sale of 12 foreign and domestic automobile dealerships and associated body shops in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire to a well-known regional dealer and the sale of associated real estate.
- Counsel to Charles River Broadcasting in its merger with Greater Media, Inc. and the disposition of Boston classical radio station WCRB.
- Counsel to a Massachusetts mortgage lender in the sale of a $300 million portfolio of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac residential mortgage servicing rights to a national lender.
- Counsel to the seller in the sale of assets of a Metro West truck dealer and its three domestic truck franchises and the lease of associated real estate.
Real Estate Transactions
- Counsel to a national printing company in the leasing transactions of its warehouse/manufacturing locations in two states in the Western U.S.
- Counsel to a family-owned building supply business in the sale of commercial real estate to a local municipality as part of a friendly eminent domain transaction and subsequent wind-down of the business.
- Counsel to a well-known Massachusetts real estate developer in the sale of multiple large commercial real estate sites to regional home developers.
- Counsel to a Massachusetts-based international seafood supplier in the acquisition of a processing facility in coastal South Carolina.
- Counsel to a family-owned building materials company in Watertown, MA, in the sale of commercial real estate to Greystar, a national mixed-use multi-family real estate developer; advised the seller on all aspects of the purchase transaction, contracts, government relations and the resolution of complex title issues, land use matters and the negotiation of agreements with a neighboring property owner to unlock the sale and development of the subject site.
- Counsel to a national cabinet supplier in a long term commercial real estate lease in a local industrial park.
- Counsel to the private lender of a golf course developer in the sale of a Southeastern Massachusetts golf course and associated residential real estate development and the restructure of the debt relationship and associated development rights.
- Counsel to the seller of an automotive dealership property in the Metro West area of Massachusetts.
- Counsel to the owner of a Metro West General Motors automobile franchise in the sale of the dealership’s real estate and facilities to a regional dealer and the wind down of the associated franchise business.
Restructuring Transactions
- Counsel to a national provider of compressed natural gas to businesses and industries in the US and Canada in a debt restructuring and refinance of loans across five substantial equipment, term and revolving line of credit loan facilities by a regional financial institution serving the New England states.
- Counsel to a Massachusetts-based international seafood supplier in the sale of its assets as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- Counsel to an international electronic component manufacturer in the sale of domestic and foreign divisions to multiple purchasers as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
- Counsel to a local higher education institution in the refinance of an existing government bond loan facility and new loan facilities secured by campus real estate.
- Counsel to a Massachusetts family-owned hotel and restaurant group in the negotiation of a workout transaction with a regional commercial lender.
- Counsel to Ground Round restaurants in the sale of restaurants and associated real estate in multiple transactions across the nation as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
- Counsel to a Massachusetts-based international shellfish and seafood supplier in the acquisition of the assets of a Maine seafood processor and the associated plant and real estate as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
Professional Involvement
- American Bar Association
- Boston Bar Association
- Massachusetts Bar Association
- Trustee, Framingham State University
Honors
- New England Law Review, Note: Mortgage Foreclosure and Bankruptcy In Massachusetts: Is a Lawful State Foreclosure a Fraudulent Federal Transfer?, 25 New England Law Review 325 (1990).
- Best Lawyers in America© Since 2023 – Real Estate Law
- Recognized two years as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer – Business/Corp
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