Charles Baker is a partner in DLA Piper's Corporate and Finance practices, based in New York.

Mr. Baker's practice encompasses all aspects of public and private mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, restructurings and private equity transactions, with a core focus in the sports, media, entertainment and consumer sectors.

Mr. Baker has represented bidders for sports franchises in the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and many of the European football leagues.

Mr. Baker has also developed specific experience representing investment banks and consulting firms on corporate finance advisory matters, including fairness and solvency opinions, and has lectured extensively on these matters to various groups, including the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and various private seminar organizations. He has also conducted numerous training sessions for professionals at the Big Four accounting and national consulting firms on negotiating mergers and acquisitions transactions, both in and out of bankruptcy.

Mr. Baker is regularly featured or quoted on sports M&A and finance issues in media publications including Sports Business Journal, Investment Dealers' Digest, The Daily Deal, The Deal Pipeline and Corporate Finance Law360, and regularly appears on such television programs as Fox Business News.

Mr. Baker currently serves as an Executive Officer and on the Board of Trustees of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and as a member of the Sports Luncheon Committee of the March of Dimes. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Strafford Publications and the Corporate Finance Editorial Board of Law 360, where he advises on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance matters. Previously, Mr. Baker served as a staff intern for former Senator Bill Bradley.

Representative cases

Mr. Baker has represented:

• Stephen Ross, chairman and CEO of the Related Companies, in the purchase of the Miami Dolphins football franchise and Dolphin Stadium
• MacFarlane-Chang, LLC, in the acquisition of Major League Soccer's DC United from the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)
• Kurt Salmon Associates, as financial advisor, in connection with the merger of Ashworth Inc. and TaylorMade-Adidas Golf
• UBS Securities, as financial advisor and fairness opinion provider, in connection with the acquisition by The Princeton Review of Penn Foster Education Group from The Wicks Group of Companies
• Dubai World in its minority investment in MGM Mirage and joint venture in the Las Vegas CityCenter development project
• JPMorgan Securities, as financial advisor and fairness opinion provider, in connection with the following:
  • News Corporation's acquisition of Dow Jones & Company
  • Mars, Inc., and Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.'s acquisition of Wm. Wrigley Jr.
  • Landmark Communications' sale of The Weather Channel to NBC, Bain and Blackstone
  • MoneyGram's recapitalization with T.H. Lee Partners and Goldman Sachs
  • United Industrial Corporation’s sale to Textron, Inc.
• Fila Korea Ltd. in its acquisition of the global Fila footwear and apparel business from Cerberus Capital
• Lotte Group of Korea, together with UBS, in a bidded acquisition of Godiva Chocolates from the Campbell Soup Company
• FTI Consulting, Inc., a global business advisory firm, in the acquisition of CXO LLC, a turnaround management services firm
• Houlihan Lokey, as financial advisor and solvency opinion provider, in the spinoff by Pride International, Inc., of Seahawk Drilling, Inc.