John R. Gierl

Despite what the appearance of his office might suggest, John Gierl is not an avid collector of paperweights – or, if he is, it is only of paperweights that tell a story.

Perhaps more than any attorney at Katz Teller, John’s shelves are overflowing with heavy glass objects that commemorate significant lending and financing transactions and mergers and acquisitions John has closed over the years. From $3.4 million in private equity financing to $125 million in senior secured credit facilities to a $1.4 billion acquisition of hotels throughout the United States, you can trace the course of John’s career in glass collectibles and get a sense of the range and scope of matters he has handled.

John’s corporate practice has a broad scope, including corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, financing and private securities transactions. In addition to his corporate transactional practice in those areas, John has been involved in a variety of franchisor and franchisee organizations, including the Skyline Chili Franchisee Association.

At Katz Teller, John chairs the firm’s finance and opinion committees.

John represents a number of financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase Bank, First Financial Bank, KeyBank National Association and PNC Bank.

John serves as U.S. counsel to JPMorgan for its financings under the National Jewish Federation Program, closing eight financings with a total financing value in excess of $170,000,000.

While handling the variety of matters involved in representation of business organizations, including formation, organizational structure, owner relationship and contract issues, John has represented a number of clients in significant merger and acquisition transactions, including most recently:

• Galaxy Associates – represented management and other shareholders in a stock sale of the speciality chemical business to Dubois Chemicals.
• FlyAshDirect – represented FlyAshDirect and its members in an asset sale of fly ash treatment and distribution business to Waste Management.