Christopher L. Rasmussen is a partner and business lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP. He represents clients in transactional matters throughout all stages of the corporate life cycle, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, securities, finance, corporate governance (including tax-exempt not-for-profit organizations), and general commercial transactions.
Mr. Rasmussen represents clients across a range of industries, including financial services; insurance; sports, media and entertainment; food and beverage; technology; construction; health care; and manufacturing. He is a member of the firm’s Manufacturing, Sports, International, and Food & Beverage Industry Teams.
Representative Experience :
- Represented Chicago Bar Company, LLC d/b/a RXBAR in the sale of the company to Kellogg Company (NYSE: K)
- Represented Club Automation, LLC in the sale of the company to Daxko Holding LLC
- Represented a Fortune 500 financial services company in its acquisition of a dividend income-focused asset management firm
- Represented a Fortune 500 manufacturer of building materials in multiple acquisitions of operating companies
- Represented a Fortune 500 financial services company in its acquisition of a software company
- Represented a multinational dairy and food ingredient cooperative in multiple acquisitions of dairy and food ingredient companies and assets
- Represented Guggenheim Baseball Management, the group headed by Mark Walter, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Stan Kasten, in the acquisition of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the largest transaction ever for a professional sports franchise
- Represented the Ricketts family in its acquisition of a controlling interest in the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field and a related ownership interest in a regional sports network, all through a complex leveraged partnership structure, the single largest transaction ever for a North American sports franchise
- Represented Rangers Baseball Express (the investment group led by Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan) in its acquisition of the Texas Rangers, a complex transaction that culminated in the purchase of the club through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy auction
- Represented a fertilizer company in the sale of its business to Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ: CENT)
- Represented both borrowers and lenders in secured and unsecured credit transactions in a variety of industries
Education :
Mr. Rasmussen earned his law degree from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington (magna cum laude, Order of the Coif). He earned his undergraduate degree (Honors College, summa cum laude) and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Rasmussen was a judicial intern to the Honorable David F. Hamilton, who at the time was U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Indiana (Judge Hamilton now serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit).
Affiliations and Admissions :
Mr. Rasmussen is the 2017 – 2018 chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Business Law Committee and a member of the ABA Task Force on Legal Project Management in Mergers & Acquisitions.
He is also a member of the Sports Lawyers Association, the Business Law and Sports & Entertainment Law Sections of the ABA, and the Illinois State Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in Illinois.
