J. HOVEY KEMP

Hovey Kemp, a partner in Goodwin Procter’s Business Law Department, is a member of the Private Equity Group – one of the nation’s most highly regarded private equity practices – and serves leading private equity and venture capital firms and private equity-sponsored growth companies across the country. Mr. Kemp is one of the leaders of Goodwin Procter’s interdisciplinary practice focusing on investments in alternative energy and clean technologies.

Mr. Kemp’s practice focuses primarily on private equity and financing transactions in connection with middle-market leveraged buyouts and buildups across a number of industries, including financial services, healthcare, education, business services, information technology, consumer products, traditional manufacturing and light industry, as well as the aforementioned alternative energy and clean technologies sectors. His practice also focuses heavily on mergers and acquisitions, including for a number of public and private companies which are outside of his private equity practice.

WORK FOR CLIENTS

In the private equity area, Mr. Kemp advises private investment funds on the full range of legal work involved in the formation of investment vehicles and the consummation of investments, leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations. Clients with whom he has worked include leading private equity firms such as Thoma Bravo, MissionPoint Capital Partners, CIVC Partners Element Partners and others. A substantial portion of this work is in connection with leveraged buildups in various consolidating industries, where he acts as counsel to private equity funds and their portfolio companies engaged in growth through acquisitions.

Mr. Kemp also handles a wide variety of senior secured credit facilities and mezzanine debt financings in conjunction with such transactions. In addition, he advises his private equity and portfolio company clients in effecting various exit strategies such as mergers, divestitures and public offerings. Having been engaged in the private equity practice since the late 1980s, Mr. Kemp has deep experience in restructuring, recapitalization and reorganization transactions through significant market downturns.

As an outgrowth of his private equity practice, middle-market and larger mergers and acquisitions are also a cornerstone of Mr. Kemp’s practice. This work is often on behalf of portfolio companies of private equity funds. For example, in 2010 and 2011, Mr. Kemp and his team represented Thoma Bravo and its predecessor funds in the sale of two portfolio companies, American Amicable Life Insurance Company and Excelligence, respectively. He also represents a number of other corporate clients in connection with their strategic acquisitions, divestitures and/or venture investment activities. For example, Mr. Kemp represented Global Imaging Systems in its 2007 acquisition by Xerox for over $1.5 billion, and he has represented Umicore, a Brussels-based, multinational specialty metals, advanced materials and specialty chemicals company, in numerous acquisitions of businesses based in the United States. Mr Kemp also represented the shareholders of Sun Edison, the country’s leading solar energy service provider, in the 2009 sale of the company to MEMC Electronic Materials.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Prior to joining Goodwin Procter in 2006, Mr. Kemp was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Hogan & Hartson. In December 2011, Mr. Kemp relocated to the firm’s San Francisco office.

BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS

Mr. Kemp is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Colorado.

RECOGNITION

Mr. Kemp has been selected for inclusion in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.