JASON T. TAKETA, PARTNER

Jason T. Taketa is a Partner in the firm’s Corporate Department.  He has over 20 years of corporate and M&A experience in large firm, small firm and in-house settings.

Mergers and Acquisitions

In his mergers and acquisitions practice, Jason routinely advises owner-operated businesses in sales to sophisticated buyers.  He draws upon his substantial M&A experience to guide his clients through complex transaction structures, involving seller “rollover,” the use of representation and warranty insurance, “F-reorganizations,” restrictive covenant agreements and earn outs.

The following is a summary of Jason’s representative M&A transactions:

• Sell-side counsel in numerous private equity acquisitions across a variety of industries, including commercial printing, agriculture, consumer products, FinTech, digital media, health care, manufacturing, outdoor advertising, software, and consumer food products.*
• Sell-side counsel to technology, AI and software companies in sales to strategic acquirers, including Twitter, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation.*
• Represented Regency Outdoor Advertising in its sale of its Sunset Strip billboard portfolio to Netflix, Inc.*
• Represented the Kate Somerville company in its sale to Unilever.*
• Sell-side counsel in CBS Corporation’s acquisition of a sports information and media company.*
• Represented Concord Music Group in its leveraged acquisition of two iconic independent record labels, Fantasy Records and Telarc International.*
• Buy-side counsel for a number of rollup, private equity acquisitions of independent music venues.
• Represented Budget Rent-a-Car of Southern California in its sale to Avis Budget Group.*

Partnerships, Joint Ventures, Equity Investments and Fund Formation

In his partnership and joint venture practice, Jason often advises one or more partners in structuring and negotiating complex joint venture, LLC and partnership arrangements.  He also represents both investors and private companies in equity investment transactions, including preferred stock financing, syndications, private placements, SAFEs and convertible debt rounds.  Jason’s practice also includes advising asset managers, private equity firms, venture capitalists and real estate sponsors in forming and structuring investment funds and raising LP capital, as well as the funds’ investment activities.

The following is a summary of Jason’s recent representative matters in this practice area:

• Cross Border Joint Ventures – Represented OutTV in connection with the launch of its US streaming platform and associated production and content joint venture arrangements.
• Preferred Equity Financing – Represented Smart Parke, a pet care and boarding company, in connection with its Series A financing round and SAFE Conversion.
• Equity Incentive and Profit Participation Plans – Structured and implemented incentive equity and profit participation plans for venture capital firms, real estate investment firms and other private businesses.
• Partnership Disputes and Separations – Advised individual partners in connection with partnership buyouts arising from accounting, management and personal disputes among partners in LLCs, limited partnerships and corporations.
• Real Estate Joint Ventures and Syndications – Sponsor and investor counsel in connection with real estate joint venture and syndication financings.
• Equity Investments – Issuer counsel in connection with a number of private placements and other investments, including for advertising and marketing agencies, independent film production, video game developers, restaurants and technology companies.*
• Fund Formation – Fund counsel to venture capital funds, real estate funds and FinTech finance funds, in connection with fund formations, offshore parallel fund structures, sidecar co-investment funds, capital commitment lines of credit and portfolio investments.*

Outside General Counsel

Jason also serves as outside general counsel, where he provides legal advice and guidance to senior management on a wide range of legal issues that arise in the course of his clients’ businesses, including corporate governance, contract negotiation, employment advice and legal risk management.  Clients engage Jason as outside general counsel to access high-quality legal advice and expertise on a flexible, as-needed basis, while retaining the personal touch of a dedicated in-house general counsel.

Background

Jason honed his craft as both a partner and an associate at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a preeminent, national law firm, where he handled complex, sophisticated corporate transactions for leading finance, health, technology, media and entertainment clients, before joining Sklar Kirsh in 2020 to focus on representing private, often owner-operated businesses in similar transactions.  In addition, Jason spent two years on secondment with Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.) Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the global Japanese trading company, Mitsui & Co. Ltd., where he managed the legal affairs for the company’s western U.S. information technology, automotive, foods and technology divisions.

About Jason

Originally from the Silicon Valley area, Jason moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinema-Television, where he graduated cum laude, after which he attended the USC Gould School of Law where he was named the Carolyn Craig Franklin Scholar and served as Managing Articles Editor for the University of Southern California Law Review from 2001-2002.  After law school, Jason further cemented his status as a Southern Californian by joining the Los Angeles office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, where he practiced for nearly 18 years before joining Sklar Kirsh.  Jason now lives in Encino with his family.  In his off time, Jason can often be found traversing various municipal golf courses in a zig-zag manner, as he continues his quixotic search for par.

* Jason handled certain representative matters while at a prior firm.