Sean P. Kearney

Sean is Chairman of the Firm and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Private Equity Group. He has served as lead counsel on hundreds of merger and acquisition transactions in a wide variety of industries. His practice primarily focuses on representing private equity funds, including both national and regional sponsors. He also represents strategic buyers, entrepreneurial sellers, and management teams on mergers and acquisitions transactions. Sean is the past Co-Chair of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group.

In addition, Sean often serves as outside general counsel to privately-held entities and provides advice over their life cycle from formation, to capital raising, to joint ventures and exit.

Sean is consistently recognized as a market leading M&A lawyer with a top ranking in Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Legal 500 M&A Powerlist, and other similar recognition by BTI Client Service All-Stars, Super Lawyers, and Best Lawyers in America.

Prior to practicing law, Sean’s professional background included working as a tax attorney at Deloitte. Sean previously served as the Chair of the Firm’s Tax Group. Sean is active in the management of Fredrikson, currently serving on its Board of Directors.

• Represents Audax (a leading national middle market PE Fund) with over 725 transactions completed to date in a wide variety of industries.
• Represented a protective equipment manufacturer in a $1.1B sale to a PE Fund.
• Represented a big-box retailer in a sale to KKR with a reported value in excess of $1.2 billion.
• Represented the management team in a $750M sale of a Midwest-based consumer products company to a California-based PE Fund.
• Represented a New York-based PE fund in a $500M sale of a telecom infrastructure business.
• Represented more than 150 sellers with transaction sizes from $5M to $1.5B, in a wide variety of industries, and with the buyers being leading strategic and financial buyers for mid-market and lower mid-market companies.
• Represented a PE Fund in the acquisition and sale of an industrial services and transportation company with a $425M enterprise value.
• Represented a Twin Cities-based software company in a $350M sale transaction.
• Represented a Midwest family business in a $250M sale of an industrial supply company to a US subsidiary of a Japanese publicly-traded entity.
• Represented a leading boutique investment bank in its sale to BMO Capital Markets.
• Represented a Texas-based management team of a franchise model business in a $225M sale to a PE Fund.
• Represented a New York-based independent sponsor on multiple transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $300M.
• Represented a Midwest PE Fund in a $150M acquisition of a consumer products company from an ESOP.
• Represented a California-based PE Fund in a $150M acquisition of a national retailer.
• Represented a California/New York-based PE Fund in a $130M sale of an advertising business to a public company.
• Represented a Washington, D.C.-based franchisor in its sale to a leading sponsor backed franchise holding company with an entity value in excess of $100M.
• Represented a Wisconsin-based management team of a health care services business in multiple transactions with successive PE buyers with an entity value in excess of $100M.

Education

• University of Minnesota Law School, J.D., 1993, cum laude
• University of Wisconsin - Madison, B.B.A. in Finance, 1990

Admissions

• Minnesota, 1993

• Best Lawyers in America, Tax Law, 2014-2025; Mergers and Acquisitions Law, 2018-2025; Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law, 2021-2025
• Top Lawyer – Mergers & Acquisitions Law, Minnesota Monthly, 2024
• Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Minnesota - Corporate / Mergers & Acquisitions, 2013-2024
• The Legal 500 M&A Powerlist - USA Region
• Minnesota Lawyer POWER 30 Top M&A Attorney, 2023-2024
• Minnesota Super Lawyers, Mergers & Acquisitions, 2003, 2005-2007, 2012-2024
• BTI Client Service All-Star, 2019
• Top Business and Commercial Lawyer, Minnesota Law & Politics

Professional Activities

• American Bar Association, Business Law Section, Committee on Mergers and Acquisitions
• Minnesota State Bar Association
• Hennepin County Bar Association
• DealLawyers.com Advisory Board
• University of St. Thomas Law School, Former Adjunct Professor