Benton Bodamer advises a wide range of public and private companies, family offices, and many of the leading international private equity sponsors on corporate transactions and strategic business matters.
Benton regularly counsels clients on complex domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, minority investments, divestitures, and restructurings. He also advises privately held businesses, including sponsor portfolio companies, on general corporate matters, governance, corporate best practices, and commercial transactions.
In addition to his traditional corporate work, Benton has significant experience in emerging regulated markets, including cannabis, hemp, and FDA-route psychedelics. He works with companies of all sizes ranging from Fortune 500s to emerging growth businesses to founder owned start-ups.
Representative Experience
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Represented Amplix (a Gemspring portfolio company) in various strategic acquisitions.*
- Represented Charlesbank Capital Partners in the acquisition of L&L Foods by Peacock Foods, the subsequent sale of Peacock Foods to Greencore, and the sale of United Road Services to Carlyle.*
- Represented Harvey Performance Company in various strategic acquisitions and ongoing support.*
- Represented LivFree Wellness in its public strategic acquisition by AYR Strategies.*
- Represented Iron Mountain in the $380 million carve-out sale of its digital business unit to Autonomy Corporation, involving simultaneous asset and stock sales in the U.S. and nine foreign jurisdictions.*
- Represented SpeedCast International in its carve-out acquisition of the Caprock division of Harris Corporation and in its CFIUS-approved acquisition of UltiSat, Inc.*
- Represented Connolly Holdings (now Cotiviti) in its merger with iHealth.*
- Represented Solo Brands in its investments in Oru Kayak, ISLE, TerraFlame, and IcyBreeze.*
- Represented Teaching Strategies in various strategic acquisitions in the education space.*
- Represented Velos Partners in a comprehensive restructuring and new investment in Surf Airlines Inc.*
Private Equity
- Represented ABRY Partners in various investments, including various strategic transactions for portfolio companies Meadowlark, Illumifin, and NexusTek.*
- Represented Advent International in various investments, including its acquisitions of Noosa Yoghurt and Morrison Supply Company, its joint venture (with Warburg Pincus) in Brazilian clothing company Dudalina S.A., and subsequent sale of Dudalina to Restoque, divestiture of the US division of Thesis, and various strategic transactions for divisions of portfolio company Ultra*
- Represented Berkshire Partners in its acquisition of SRS Distribution and divestiture of an investment in premium toy company Melissa & Doug, and ongoing support for portfolio company Harvey Performance.*
- Represented Leeds Equity Partners in the acquisition of Fusion Education Group.*
- Represented Oaktree Capital Management in the strategic combination of its portfolio company Bioplan with Visant’s Arcade (owned by KKR and DLJ Merchant Banking).*
- Represented Providence Equity Partners in acquisitions of Miller Heiman, IPS Learning Systems, VitalSmarts, and in a carve-out cross-border acquisition of assets from UK public company Informa plc.*
- Represented Silversmith Capital Partners in connection with various strategic investments by portfolio companies TMA Systems and Jet Net.*
- Represented Summit Partners in its sale of Champion Windows and in various portfolio company strategic investments.*
- Represented TA Associates in investments in Gamma Technologies, CCRM, Flexera, and PetPeople.*
- Represented Thomas H. Lee Partners in various investments, including Hawkeye Energy, Intermedix, and Fogo de Chao.*
- Represented Vantage Equity Partners in its investment in Thomasville Restoration.*
*Matters handled prior to joining Foley.
Awards and Recognition
- Best Lawyers in America®, Corporate Law (2026)
- Chambers USA, Corporate Law and Mergers and Acquisitions (2025)
- The Legal 500
- Mergers & Acquisitions – Corporate and Commercial (2024-2025)
- Cannabis (2022-2025)
- Columbus Business First, “40 Under 40” Honoree (2019)
- The Business Journals, National Influencers Law List (2019)
- Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, “Up and Coming Lawyer” (2014)
Community Involvement
- Benton has a 20-year history of drug policy research and advocacy, including published work on social and legal frameworks for the regulation of human consciousness, award-winning research at Harvard College on the use of hallucinogens in ritualized medicine, graduate research at Cambridge University on novel approaches to using archaeological and anthropological data in modern drug development, and an adjunct professorship with the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
- Benton’s pro bono legal efforts have included a multi-year public-private partnership as lead counsel to the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley in its pay-for-success agreements with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and private funding sources to facilitate permanent supportive housing for hundreds of chronically unhoused individuals.
- Board Member for NoticeAbility, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students with dyslexia thrive by identifying their unique strengths and building self-esteem, and deploying the neuroscience of dyslexia, the best practices of special education, and the power of EdTech to construct enrichment curricula and teacher training programs for global distribution.
Presentations and Publications
Recent Presentations
- Moderator, “Sell-Side,” Navigating M&A Uncertainty, Smart Business Dealmakers Conference (September 2023)
- Moderator, “Lawyering in Cannabis,” Ohio State University Moritz College of Law (September 2023)
- Speaker, “The Convergence of Sacred Substances and FDA-Route Psychedelics,” Eighth Native American Cannabis and Hemp Conference (June 2023)
- Panelist, YACG Columbus Luncheon: State of Play—the Ohio Cannabis Legalization Battle (May 2023)
- Speaker, Benzinga Psychedelics Capital Conference (April 2023)
- Speaker, “Investing in the Legal US Cannabis Market & Panel Discussion,” CFA Society of Columbus (February 2023)
- Panelist, “Current Economic Environment and its Impact on the Sell-Side M&A Market,” Smart Business Dealmakers, The M&A Boom: How Long Can It Last? (September 2022)
- Panelist, “Selling a Business,” Smart Business Dealmakers Conference, The M&A Boom: How Long Can It Last? (September 2022)
- Moderator, “Adult-Use Marijuana Reform,” Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law, Drug Enforcement and Policy Center (April 2022)
- Moderator, The Art of Strategic Acquisitions, Smart Business Dealmakers Conference Columbus (September 2021)
Recent Publications
- Co-author, “Cliffs Without Fences and Fences Without Cliffs: Exploring the Emerging Conflicts Between Quasi-Legal Intoxicating Hemp and Regulated State-Legal Cannabis,” Ohio State Legal Studies Research Paper, No. 855, Drug Enforcement and Policy Center (June 2024)
- Co-author, “At the Intersection of Law and Technology: Navigating Generative AI in the Legal Industry Part 2,” Texas Lawyer (March 2024)
- Co-author, “Artificial Incompetence: How Generative AI Creates Latent Intellectual Property Issues,” The Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law (March 2024)
- Author, “A Prescription for Progress? Would a Schedule III Reclassification of Psychoactive Cannabis Help or Hurt State Operators?” Ohio State Legal Studies Research Paper, No. 799, Drug Enforcement and Policy Center No. 72 (September 2023)