Gjina Lucaj is an associate with Foley & Lardner LLP and a member of the Transactional & Securities and Private Equity & Venture Capital Practices. She is also a member of the firm’s Automotive Industry Team.
Mrs. Lucaj practices general corporate and business law, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions and general corporate counseling. Mrs. Lucaj has significant experience with domestic and international strategic and private equity transactions across numerous industries. These transactions include mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financing and public and private debt and equity offerings. Mrs. Lucaj also regularly provides clients with general corporate, restructuring and contract counseling.
Representative transactions include:
- Represented Henniges and Wynnchurch Capital on the sale of Henniges Automotive in November 2011. Henniges was formed in September 2008 upon the acquisition of Metzler Automotive and GDX Automotive where Foley represented Wynnchurch Capital in these global acquisitions. After successfully integrating and building the companies over three years, Foley represented the company in negotiation and the sale of Henniges to Littlejohn & Co, a private equity fund.
- Represented Wynnchurch Capital on its acquisition of the stock of Wolverine Advanced Materials from EPMC. Given the global reach of Wolverine, the transaction involved antitrust filings and clearances in multiple countries, including U.S. and EU. This acquisition required a complex equity and debt financing structure that was negotiated with several banks and other financing sources.
- Represented a multinational automotive supplier in the sale of its manufacturing operations in Mexico.
- Represented a Spanish automotive supplier in its purchases of multiple supplier businesses in Indiana and Kentucky.
- Represented ABC Group (a Canadian automotive supplier) in a cross-border joint venture (U.S. and Canada) with Inoac Group structured as membership interest purchase of 50 percent of U.S. company and stock purchase of 50 percent of Canadian company.
- Represented a private equity fund in its stock acquisition of a commercial vehicle parts supplier from its public company parent.
- Represented a large contractor in confidential negotiations concerning the creation of a joint venture, creating a team to pursue an expected $4 billion Department of Defense procurement. Foley negotiated the terms, advised the client, and have since dealt with the addition of a new team member, the sale of another team member, and the evolution of the planned procurement. The creation of the joint venture remains confidential for competitive reasons.
- Represented a public company and retail seller of shoes and accessories in the acquisition of a privately held company in the shoe industry with operations in China.
- Represented a privately held pharmacy in the sale of all of its assets to a larger chain pharmacy store.
Previously, Ms. Lucaj served as an intern for the Honorable Robert Cleland of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Ms. Lucaj received her law degree from Wayne State University Law School (cum laude, 2009), where she was elected to the Order of Coif and served as senior note & comment editor of the Wayne Law Review. She received her bachelor’s degree, with highest distinction, from the University of Michigan (summa cum laude, 2004).
Ms. Lucaj is admitted to practice in Michigan and is a member of the American Bar Association, the Associate for Corporate Growth, the Women’s Lawyer Association of Michigan, and holds a seat on the board of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association’s Barristers. She is also founder and former president of the Albanian American Student Organization University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Chapter.