Ryan M. Hicks

RYAN HICKS focuses his practice on representing private equity clients and public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, carve-outs, minority investments, and a variety of other complex corporate and securities matters. Ryan has represented clients across a variety of sectors, including financial services, technology, entertainment, sports and media, gaming and hospitality, consumer and retail, and industrials.

Ryan was recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America® for Mergers & Acquisitions (2026). In law school, he was on the staff of the UCLA Law Review (Vol. 61) and senior editor of Vol. 62.

• SupplyHouse, a proprietary e-commerce platform serving professionals in the HVAC, plumbing, and electrical trades, in connection with a minority investment from KKR & Co., a global private equity firm.
• U.S.-based private equity fund sponsor in its acquisition of HeloAir.
• Moving Mountains, an award-winning hospitality company specializing in the operation of luxury vacation rentals with personalized guest experiences, in its acquisition by StayTerra, a property management company and collection of premier vacation rental brands.
• Castle Creek Capital in the following engagements:
  • as a selling shareholder in connection with Northpointe Bancshares, Inc.’s initial public offering.
  • its definitive securities purchase agreement with Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. (NYSE American: BARBS).
  • its US$30 million co-investment in FirstSun Capital Bancorp, the holding company of Sunflower Bank, to help fund FirstSun’s merger with HomeStreet, Inc.
• Warner Music Group in the formation of a joint venture with Elliot Grainge’s label, 10K Projects, whereby 10K Projects became a standalone label within the WMG ecosystem and its roster of artists, including Trippie Redd and Ice Spice, joined the WMG family.
• The Professional Fighters League (PFL) in the acquisition of Bellator from Paramount Global.
• Owners of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) in the launch of a new North American women’s professional hockey league.
• Symplr in its acquisition of Phynd Technologies, a global healthcare governance, risk management, and compliance software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform.
• Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. in its acquisition of nThrive’s Technology Division from nThrive Holdings, LP, a portfolio company of Pamplona Capital Management.
• Symplr in its acquisition of TractManager, an Arsenal Capital Partners portfolio company.
• Dude Solutions Inc., a SaaS provider of cloud-based operations management software backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., in the acquisition of the asset management platform Confirm from Precisely.
• Symplr in its acquisition of ComplyTrack from the Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory division.
• ConvergeOne, a global IT services provider of collaboration and digital infrastructure solutions, in its acquisition of Altivon, a contact center solutions provider.
• 9to5 in its sale to Flokk AS, a portfolio company of Triton Partners.
• Apollo Global Management in its US$2.6 billion acquisition of publicly traded Aspen Insurance Holdings.
• Siris Capital Group LLC in its US$654 million acquisition of Xura Inc. (formerly Comverse).
• Siris Capital Group, LLC in its US$2 billion acquisition of Polycom, Inc.
• Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. in its acquisition of Dude Solutions.
• The founders of the Lagunitas Brewing Company in connection with the sale of their remaining equity stake to an affiliate of Heineken N.V.
• An investor group led by investment funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC in its US$1.4 billion acquisition of 40.6 percent of OneMain Holdings, Inc. from affiliates of Fortress Investment Group LLC.
• Z Capital Group in its US$580 million acquisition of Affinity Gaming.
• Z Capital Group in its acquisition of Sports Information Group, LLC. 
• Affiliates of Castle Creek Capital LLC in their investment in Liberty Bancshares, Inc. and Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc., as well as various other investments.
• Pandora Radio with securing its US$480 million investment from Sirius XM.