
Ben Sharp
Associate
Areas of Focus
- Corporate & Finance
- Capital Markets
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Corporate Governance
- Public Company Advisory
- Practice focuses on complex business transactions across a diverse range of industries, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and capital markets.
- Significant experience with private equity funds and their portfolio companies.
Ben is an associate in the firm’s corporate practice. He advises clients on a range of corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, corporate governance and compliance with U.S. securities laws and regulations.
Prior to joining Akin, Ben was an associate at another global law firm. He also served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable J. Campbell Barker at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Ben graduated cum laude from Duke University School of Law, where he was the Executive Editor of the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law and Public Policy and was the Founding Vice President of the Duke Law Texas Club. He earned his B.A. in economics summa cum laude from Texas Tech University, where he was the highest-ranking graduate in the College of Arts and Sciences and the student body president.
Ben is active in the Dallas Bar Association and the Dallas Young Lawyers Association, and he serves on the board of directors for Take Heart Family Ministry.
Mergers and Acquisitions
- Represented Stream Data Centers and Stream Realty Partners in the majority stake sale of Stream Data Centers to Apollo Funds.
- Represented Princeton Equity Group in its sale of International Franchise Professionals Group to CNL Strategic Capital, an investment vehicle sub-managed by Levine Leichtman Capital Partners.
- Represented a private equity fund in its investment in a leading franchisor of athletic-based child development facilities.
- Represented Energy Transfer in its $7.1 billion acquisition of Crestwood Equity Partners.
- Represented Bristol-Myers Squibb in its $5.8 billion acquisition of Mirati Therapeutics, Inc.
- Represented Devon Energy Corporation in its $5.0 billion acquisition of the Williston Basin business of Grayson Mill Energy.
EducationJ.D., Duke University School of Law, cum laude, 2020
B.A., Texas Tech University, summa cum laude, 2017
J.D., Duke University School of Law, cum laude, 2020
B.A., Texas Tech University, summa cum laude, 2017
ClerkshipsU.S.D.C., Eastern District of Texas
U.S.D.C., Eastern District of Texas
Bar AdmissionsTexas
Texas
- Member, Dallas Bar Association
- Member, Dallas Young Lawyers Association
- Board of Directors, Take Heart Family Ministry
