James H. Ball, Jr. (Jim) is a partner in the New York office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and a member of the firm's Securities Group. A partner since 2001, Mr. Ball’s practice centers on capital markets, finance and corporate matters.
Primary Focus & Experience
Mr. Ball has extensive experience representing both underwriters and issuers in domestic and international offerings of various types of securities, including initial public offerings, Rule 144A/Regulation S securities and high yield debt. He also has significant experience in domestic and international financial transactions, including acquisitions and joint ventures, secured and unsecured lending, transportation finance, telecom and satellite finance, utility financings, project finance, restructurings and leveraged buyouts.
Mr. Ball has represented a number of investment banks in various offerings and other capacities including BofA, Citigroup, Cowen, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Lazard, Morgan Stanley and UBS. Mr. Ball has also represented Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, NYSE Euronext, the International Securities Exchange and LightSquared Inc., a Harbinger portfolio company, in corporate and finance matters.
Mr. Ball's representative transactions include:
- LightSquared, a Harbinger portfolio company building out a 4G wireless network, in all financings, including an $850 million leveraged loan, and all corporate work.
- The American Stock Exchange in its historic acquisition by the NYSE Euronext.
- Credit Suisse, Citigroup, HSBC and RBC in a $615 million initial public equity offering by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, a global operator of high quality infrastructure assets, listed on the NYSE Euronext.
- The International Securities Exchange, a leading equity options exchange, in its initial public offering with a listing on the NYSE and secondary offering. This IPO was nominated for IFLR “Equity Deal of the Year”.
- Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, one of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization, in all of its securities offerings.
- UBS and Morgan Stanley in the initial public offering by Orbcomm, which operates a global wireless messaging system, with a listing on The Nasdaq Global Market and subsequent follow-on offering.
- Cantor Fitzgerald in the initial public offering by StealthGas, a provider of seaborne transportation services to LPG producers and users, and Citigroup in the subsequent follow-on offering.
- O3B Networks, which is developing a constellation of satellites to provide IP connectivity solutions in the emerging markets, in equity, mezzanine and COFACE guaranteed leveraged financings.
- Lazard Capital Markets in the initial public offering by CDC Software with a listing on the NASDAQ National Market.
- UBS and Cowen in the initial public offering by WorldSpace, a global provider of satellite-based digital audio radio services outside the US, with a listing on the NASDAQ National Market.
Recognition & Accomplishments
Mr. Ball is consistently named one of America’s leading capital markets lawyers. In 2009 and 2010, he was selected to New York Super Lawyers. He was an associate editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Articles:
Judgment Calls: Disclosure and Materiality Considerations in Securities Offerings published in Insights, 2009.
Public Offerings by Securities Exchanges, Alternative Trading Systems, and Broker-Dealers published in Insights and The John Lothian Newsletter, 2008.
Bumps on the Road to an IPO: Structuring Provisions to Anticipate Issues in Pre-IPO Convertible Bonds published in Wall Street Lawyer, 2007.
SEC is Proactive on Confidentiality Requests for Material Contracts published in the New York Law Journal, 2004.
Disclosure of the Effectiveness of Controls and Procedures in Exchange Act Reports published in Corporate Corruption Litigation Reporter, 2004.
Suggestions for Implementing Sarbanes-Oxley Act Requirements published in Andrews Securities Litigation & Regulation Reporter, 2003.
New Audit Committee Charter Requirements published in the Wall Street Lawyer, 2003.