Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Securities

Stradley Ronon advised 1st Colonial Bancorp Inc., the parent company of Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based 1st Colonial Community Bank, in a merger agreement with Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based Mid Penn Bancorp Inc. in which Mid Penn acquired 1st Colonial in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $106.1 million. In connection with the holding company merger, 1st Colonial Community Bank was merged with and into Mid Penn’s subsidiary bank, Mid Penn Bank.

The transaction, which was completed on February 27, further expands Mid Penn’s presence in the Greater Philadelphia area and southern New Jersey.

Stradley Ronon represented Customers Bancorp, a bank holding public company that operates through its wholly owned banking subsidiary Customers Bank, in the closing of its underwritten public offering of $100 million in aggregate principal amount of its 6.875% fixed-to-floating-rate subordinated notes due 2036.  

Customers is one of the nation’s top-performing banking companies with over $24 billion in assets, making it one of the 80 largest bank holding companies in the United States. 

This is the second public offering the firm completed for Customers in the second half of 2025.

Stradley Ronon represented Lenis Group, a Slovenian-based full-service regional commercialization and distribution partner for niche and specialty prescription medicines in Central and Eastern Europe, in the sale of a majority ownership stake to Great Point Partners, a U.S.-based private investment firm focused on the healthcare industry. The transaction was announced on December 10; the value was undisclosed.

The acquisition will support Lenis’ regional expansion and accelerate its vision of broadening access to high-quality specialty medicines across Central and Eastern Europe.

Read the announcement.

Stradley Ronon represented Covetrus, a Portland, Maine-based global animal-health technology and services company, with respect to its agreement for Chewy Inc. to acquire its subsidiary SmartPak Equine LLC (SmartEquine). The transaction, announced October 30, is expected to close by year-end subject to customary closing conditions.

SmartEquine is a leading U.S. direct-to-consumer provider of equine nutraceutical supplements. The deal will allow for Covetrus to focus on its core business of delivering technology-enabled solutions that help streamline and strengthen veterinary practices.

Stradley Ronon advised the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, a nonprofit performing arts center based in Philadelphia, in its 12-year naming rights sponsorship agreement with health insurer Highmark Health (d/b/a Highmark Blue Shield). The agreement, announced October 15, will rebrand the outdoor music destination as the Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts. The sponsorship agreement also extends to the community programs that the center sponsors every year. 

This is the fourth naming rights agreement Stradley Ronon has handled for the center since 2019. The agreement was announced at a groundbreaking celebration of the center’s $70 million capital campaign to transform its physical campus ahead of its 50th anniversary next year.

Stradley Ronon advised Oak Hill Wealth Advisors, a wealth management firm based in Lansdowne, Virginia, in its merger with Cerity Partners, a full-service wealth management firm serving high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families, businesses and their leadership teams, and nonprofit organizations. The transaction closed on September 30; the value was undisclosed.

Oak Hill will operate under the Cerity Partners name. The partnership will expand Cerity Partners’ footprint in the Washington, D.C., market and is expected to enhance offerings to high-net-worth families, including generational wealth planning, financial and retirement planning, and investment management services.

Stradley Ronon represented Customers Bancorp, a bank holding company that operates through its wholly owned banking subsidiary, Customers Bank, in its $172.5 million underwritten public offering of common stock. Customers intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund organic growth and for other general corporate purposes.

Pennsylvania-based Customers is one of the top-performing banking companies in the United States with more than $22 billion in assets.

Stradley Ronon represented Pennsylvania-based Silvi Materials, a vertically integrated leader in construction materials, in its acquisition of Eagle Rock Concrete, a premier ready-mix concrete producer based in North Carolina. The transaction closed September 2.

The combined company will operate as Eagle Rock Concrete, a Silvi Materials Company. This acquisition represents Silvi’s expansion into the Southeast U.S. construction market, bringing nine high-production ready-mix plants in the Raleigh-Durham area.

Stradley Ronon represented Allied Resources Group (ARG) in its acquisition of Verigent, a North Carolina-based staffing firm specializing in telecom and IT network infrastructure. The transaction closed July 31; the value was undisclosed.

ARG is a multidisciplinary provider of engineering, staffing, inspection and field services focused on delivering reliable solutions to critical infrastructure clients nationwide. The acquisition will expand ARG’s workforce solutions platform and strengthen its presence in fast-growing technical markets across the United States, including the data center infrastructure sector.

Read more about the acquisition.

Stradley Ronon represented Maple Donuts, a Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of frozen bakery products, in its acquisition by Swander Pace Capital, a private equity firm focused on investing across the food and beverage industry. The transaction closed on May 30, 2025; the value was undisclosed.

The acquisition will allow Maple Donuts to further expand product offerings and enhance production capabilities.

The Stradley Ronon team was led by Tom Ix and Steve Scolari, with John Hook, Megan Stamm, Rich Peterson, Jon Bloom, Chris Rosenbleeth and Andrew Barron.

For more information, visit Swander Pace Capital’s website.

Stradley Ronon represented Cook Wealth, a Raleigh-based wealth management firm, in a merger with Cerity Partners, a financial and wealth advisory firm serving high-net-worth individuals and their families and nonprofit organizations and foundations throughout the United States.

The merger expands Cerity Partners’ integrated wealth advisory services, including financial planning, investment management, and tax planning and preparation, into North Carolina.

For more information, visit Cerity Partners’ website.

Our firm has represented Rhodium in its acquisition of three health, beauty and wellness companies: SiO Beauty, Rootine and Solomomo. Rhodium, a startup backed by Relevance Ventures and Loeb.nyc, is a data and machine learning platform for the wellness industry. The deal will expand Rhodium’s suite of offerings for med-spas. 

Stradley Ronon represented Wedderspoon Organic Group, the largest seller of New Zealand-sourced and manufactured manuka honey products in North America, in its acquisition by New Zealand-based investment firm Masthead Ltd. Masthead plans to consolidate its consumer brand portfolio into a new holding company, Florenz.

Read more about the transaction.