Chris Bellini, shareholder at Cozen O’Connor, chairs the firm’s Private Equity practice and co-chairs its Capital Markets & Securities practice. He focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, capital markets, securities and compliance, representing clients across manufacturing, financial services, health care and technology industries.

Bellini has more than 25 years of transactional experience and brings a background in investment banking to his practice. He regularly guides clients through deals ranging from $50 million to $500 million on local, national and international levels. Among his representative matters, he served as lead attorney representing a private equity investor in a strategic partnership with a digital product engineering company operating 10 development centers across the United States, Europe and Latin America, headquartered in the Twin Cities.

As co-chair of the Capital Markets & Securities practice, Bellini helped establish and grow the firm’s underwriters’ capital markets practice. He has been a key figure in Cozen O’Connor’s Minneapolis office since its early days and is a member of the firm’s Corporate Practice Group.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP Partner Rachel Benedict represents public and private company clients in mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, joint ventures and technology transactions. She advises both buyers and sellers across asset purchases, stock purchases, mergers, divestitures, carve-outs and joint ventures, with industry experience spanning health care, food, beverage and agriculture, and technology.

Benedict’s representative matters include advising Optum in numerous acquisitions of physician practices, benefits management companies and health technology companies; United HealthCare in the acquisition of a hearing services plan, a third-party administrator and a medical transportation benefits provider; Best Buy in the acquisition of a senior remote monitoring company and a consumer goods company; and Land O’Lakes in multiple joint ventures for its feed and agronomy businesses. She also represented Chelan Fruit Cooperative in its sale to an agricultural investment manager and a major medical device company in the divestiture of an international business unit.

Beyond transactional work, Benedict serves as firm recruiting co-chair at Dorsey & Whitney and is a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association.

Fredrikson & Byron P.A. Shareholder Frank B. Bennett has closed hundreds of transactions and served as outside general counsel to businesses across numerous industries for more than 35 years.

Bennett advises private equity sponsors and public and private clients on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, venture finance and general corporate law. He represents U.S. and international private equity groups, strategic buyers and sellers, financial advisors, management teams and minority shareholders in leveraged and management buyouts, corporate restructurings and related transactions across sectors including software and technology, food processing, manufacturing, healthcare, insurance and financial services.

His representative matters include advising the owners of a privately held software and operating technology company in a $1.6 billion sale to a public company, representing shareholders of a software and financial services firm in a sale exceeding $400 million in enterprise value, and counseling a nutrition company founder in a subsequent platform sale exceeding $600 million.

Bennett serves on multiple nonprofit boards and the boards of Center National Bank and Coulee Bank.

Fredrikson & Byron P.A. Shareholder Ryan C. Brauer co-chairs the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Department and brings nearly two decades of experience in corporate transactions and securities law. His practice spans private equity, strategic buy-side and sell-side deals, ESOP transactions, growth equity financings and capital markets work for publicly traded companies.

Brauer earned his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2003. He previously co-chaired the firm’s Corporate and Securities Department.

His representative matters include advising Celcuity Inc. on its initial public offering, representing AGA Medical Holdings Inc. in its sale to St. Jude Medical Inc., counseling a filtration device manufacturer in a $225 million sale, and advising a software-as-a-service company in a $90 million sale. He has represented more than 100 sellers in transactions ranging from $5 million to $1.3 billion across a wide variety of industries. He also represents underwriters and placement agents in equity and debt financings and on FINRA compliance matters.

Max Bremer is the Minneapolis office managing partner at Saul Ewing LLP, a role he assumed in February 2024. He was instrumental in the opening of the firm’s Minneapolis office and has helped guide its growth since its founding. Bremer advises entrepreneurs, private equity funds and established operating companies on transactions throughout the business life cycle, from formations and financings to mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.
Notable representations include advising R.D. Offutt Company on the sale of Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels to The Hershey Company in a transaction valued at approximately $900 million, the largest divestiture in R.D. Offutt’s history. He also represented Hand Family Companies in four separate transactions in 2025 as part of their entry into the California market and a related refinancing of credit facilities, represented Proterra Investment Partners in its buyout of its partner in Central Valley Eggs, and guided Dakota Supply Group through three acquisitions over the past two years.
In addition to his transactional practice, Bremer mentors associates across the firm and regularly speaks on mergers and acquisitions topics.

Harleigh E. Brown, shareholder at Fredrikson & Byron P.A., co-chairs the firm’s Cross-Border M&A Group and is a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions, International and Corporate & Securities Groups. He represents clients based in and outside the U.S. in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, entity formation and contract negotiations across manufacturing, automotive, oil and gas, health and professional services industries.

Brown earned a B.A., magna cum laude, from Minnesota State University Moorhead, a J.D., magna cum laude, from Hamline University School of Law in 2002, and an LLM in International and Comparative Law with honors from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium in 2003. He clerked for Judge Donovan W. Frank of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota from 2003 to 2005 and was a Fulbright Scholar in 2002-2003.

His representative matters include serving as primary M&A counsel for PremiStar across 27 or more acquisitions spanning two private equity ownership phases, and advising Smart Care Equipment Solutions in its secondary buyout and 17 subsequent add-on acquisitions.