McDermott Will & Emery LLP

Corporate Advisory

Brooks B. Gruemmer is a corporate partner with a wide-ranging practice representing private equity and other investment funds and private and public companies, with an emphasis on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, recapitalizations, joint ventures, and the related financing required to fund such transactions. Brooks is a former member of the Firm’s Management Committee and served as head of the Chicago office’s Transactions Practice Group for over a decade.

Brooks has represented clients in a wide range of transactions, business ventures and general corporate matters. He regularly represents a number of private equity and other investment funds in leveraged buyouts of public and private companies, venture capital and growth equity investments, divestitures and recapitalizations. He also represents privately held and publicly traded corporations in connection with a variety of corporate matters, including strategic mergers and other acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, financings, securities law disclosure and compliance matters, and executive compensation. In recent years, Brooks has advised acquirers of financially distressed companies, inside and outside of bankruptcy, and in connection with debt and equity restructurings, workouts and related financings.

Brooks brings a unique perspective to private practice, having spent approximately four years as vice president of administration and general counsel of Favorite Brands International, Inc., the fourth-largest manufacturer of confectionery products in the United States. While at Favorite Brands, Brooks was a member of the executive committee and oversaw numerous acquisitions, financings that raised more than $1 billion, and the eventual sale of the Company to Nabisco.