Joe Thompson

Counsel He / Him / His

Minneapolis

Tel 612.371.3247
Fax 612.371.3207

Joe R. Thompson is a corporate and transactional attorney who advises business owners, management teams, and companies on mergers and acquisitions, strategic transactions, and other significant corporate matters. A substantial part of his practice involves representing founders, business owners, and companies in the sale of privately held businesses.

Over more than 25 years of practice, Joe has worked on more than 200 acquisitions and divestitures, including public company and private equity-backed transactions valued at up to $500 million, and more than 100 capital raises, including private equity and venture capital financings. He also has extensive experience advising companies on corporate governance and complex domestic and cross-border commercial matters.

Services

Representative Experience

Representative Matters

Represented industrial data connectivity company Open Automation Software in being acquired by SeQent, a provider of industrial alarm notification and plant-floor communication software, extending the combined company’s portfolio into edge-to-cloud connectivity, data movement, historization, and visualization
Represented H.B. Fuller Company in its acquisition of Verdafresh, Inc., a flexible food packaging developer that specializes in fully recyclable, oxygen-barrier technology
Represented Gage Bros. Concrete Products, Inc., in the sale of its assets to Molin Sioux Falls, Inc.

Represented Vive Communications, a technology solutions and telecommunications provider, in the sale of its assets to a global telecommunications company with a dedicated Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) portfolio
Represented AgraMarke Quality Grains, Inc., in a pre-closing reorganization and subsequent equity investment in an affiliate of Turnspire Capital Partners in connection with the acquisition and combination of Lifeline Foods LLC and ICM Biofuels LLC to form The Lifeline Group—a new platform that will leverage synergies between corn-based product manufacturing and renewable fuel production, enhancing efficiency and sustainability across the business
Advised Shopgenie, a provider of client relationship management software (CRM) to automotive repair stores, in its merger with Tekmetric, a cloud-based shop management system for automotive repair shops. The merger leverages the fast-growing Shopgenie's CRM and customer experience tools to advance Tekmetric's journey toward becoming the first auto-repair technology platform to achieve unicorn status—valuation for a privately held company of over $1 billion
Represented a Phoenix-based independent emergency medicine group in its strategic partnership with a national specialty provider of emergency medicine physician services
Advised seller, a diversified commodity-processing company and one of North America’s largest ethanol producers, in its $350 million stock sale of a wholly owned subsidiary
Led $20 million recapitalization for a fresh produce supply chain, logistics, and marketing company, with investment from a Minneapolis-based private equity firm
Represented geofencing company on $70 million investment by a private equity firm, managing pre-closing restructuring, executive transition and retention, and investment terms/negotiation and documentation
Advised $16 billion brewing company in its acquisition of a regional craft brewery, producing and distributing 65,000+ barrels across 30+ states
Negotiated and advised stock sale of a more than $20+ million manufacturing services company to a Minneapolis-based private equity firm
Represented a $200 million automotive repair company and 11 auto glass repair and replacement affiliates in an asset divestiture, including significant international intellectual property, to a competitor

Professional Highlights

Board Memberships & Community Service

Board of Directors, Giving Voice Initiative, 2026-present

Related Insights

Credentials

Education

Harvard Law School Executive Education (Certificate in Leadership in Corporate Counsel, 2021)

University of Iowa College of Law (J.D. with distinction 1998)
Journal of Corporation Law

Iowa State University (B.S. with distinction 1993)

Admissions

Iowa

Minnesota

Missouri