When grocery company Supervalu Inc. teamed up with four other companies to acquire 18 Rainbow grocery stores for $65 million last year, it turned to top mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer and Faegre Baker Daniels partner Mike Stanchfield to put all the pieces together.

He coordinated the multiparty buying group of independent grocery companies that were also Supervalu wholesale business customers. They included Jerry's Enterprises Inc., Haug Enterprises Inc., Lund Food Holdings Inc. and Radermacher Enterprises Inc. The buyers acquired different groups of stores. “We were oftentimes a bridge between Supervalu and the legal counsel for these other buyers,” he said. The firm had 673 lawyers in 2013, according to the latest NLJ 350 survey of the nation's largest law firms.

That involved negotiating with other members of the buying group as well as the seller, Roundy's Supermarkets Inc., he said. Supervalu's revenues totaled $17.2 billion for the fiscal year that ended in February 2014 and $13.5 billion for the three quarters that ended Nov. 29. Aside from the core deal team, Stanchfield brought in Faegre lawyers with expertise in employee benefits, as well as environmental, intellectual property, tax and real estate law. Supervalu also used Littler Mendelson labor and employment lawyers.