Blank Rome announced that Stephen “Steve” C. Koval has joined the firm’s New York office as a partner in the Corporate, M&A, and Securities group. As a renowned dealmaker, Koval focuses his practice on structuring and negotiating complex business and private equity (PE) transactions, including public and private mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, carveouts, and recapitalizations. He joined Blank Rome from Arnold & Porter, where he worked as a partner and co-head of the firm’s global private equity practice.
Active in the PE arena since its inception, Koval counsels leading PE firms across the middle market and other investors, including independent sponsors, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, hedge funds, and more. And his experience involves counseling on public offerings and private placements of debt and equity securities; fund formation for PE firms; representing financial institutions and U.S. issuers of all sizes nationwide, as well as U.S. and international entities, in cross-border offerings; restructuring the debt of financially distressed public and private companies; and serving as a skilled corporate counselor to boards of directors and their committees on governance, executive compensation, and a broad range of other issues.
Koval’s clients often include those with consumer-facing assets such as retail, consumer goods and luxury brands, transactional healthcare, manufacturing, industrials, and other services. And his experience will strengthen Blank Rome’s Financial Services, Life Sciences, and Retail & Ecommerce industry teams.
Koval earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his B.S., summa cum laude, from St. John’s University. And outside of his practice, Koval is active in the community, serving as a member emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries Board of Directors and The Metropolitan Opera Guild Board of Directors, a member of the American Museum of Natural History Museum Advisory Council, and a member of fundraising committees for several educational and philanthropic institutions.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are pleased to welcome Steve to our New York office and our national corporate practice. Steve’s vast experience helping investors strategize and implement sophisticated merger, acquisition, and financing transactions will add significant value to our Corporate, M&A, and Securities group. Paired with his deep industry knowledge and reputation as a trusted adviser in the private equity space, Steve will be an incredible asset to our clients seeking to navigate the dynamic deal landscape.”
– Grant S. Palmer, Blank Rome’s Chair and Managing Partner
“We are excited to welcome Steve to our group and the firm. Steve has built a stellar reputation assisting investors in raising, deploying, and harvesting capital. The outlook for deals in 2025 is promising, with predicted increases in merger, acquisition, and PE activity and Steve’s experience will help our clients evaluate and seize market opportunities in the coming year.”
– Peter Schnur, partner and co-chair of the Corporate, M&A, and Securities group
“I am thrilled to join Blank Rome and look forward to contributing to its success. I was impressed by Blank Rome’s broad industry coverage, strong leadership team, extensive platform, and the amazing group of lawyers here. The firm’s team of professionals from coast to coast is collegial and collaborative and I am eager to work with my new colleagues to support clients.”
– Steve Koval
