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MoFo Advises SoftBank in Sale of Boston Dynamics to Hyundai

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Morrison & Foerster is advising SoftBank in the sale of a majority of its stake in robotics company Boston Dynamics, Inc. (“Boston Dynamics”) to South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Company. Boston Dynamics is an engineering company that

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Morrison & Foerster is advising SoftBank in the sale of a majority of its stake in robotics company Boston Dynamics, Inc. (“Boston Dynamics”) to South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Company. Boston Dynamics is an engineering company that specializes in building dynamic robots and software for human simulation.The transaction was announced on December 11, 2020. MoFo was also lead counsel to SoftBank in its acquisition of Boston Dynamics from Alphabet in 2017.The MoFo deal team representing SoftBank on the transaction is led by Tokyo managing partner Ken Siegel, San Francisco partner and global co-chair of the Corporate Department Eric McCrath, and San Francisco partner Patrick Huard.Read more about the transaction in the companies’ <a target="_blank" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hyundai-motor-group-to-acquire-controlling-interest-in-boston-dynamics-from-softbank-group-opening-a-new-chapter-in-the-robotics-and-mobility-industry-301191028.html">press release</a>.

MoFo Advises SoftBank in Sale of Boston Dynamics to Hyundai

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Ken Siegel is the managing partner of Morrison Foerster’s Tokyo office and the head of the office’s 50-attorney M&A team. Ken’s practice focuses on the representation of high-technology companies in acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances.Ken has been consistently ranked as one of the leading U.S. attorneys in Japan. Among other things, he is the only attorney rated as a “Star Individual” for M&A in Japan (the level above Band 1) by Chambers Global, having been ranked at this level for 13 consecutive years (2011–2024 editions), and having been ranked in Band 1 for the prior decade. According to Chambers Asia-Pacific, Ken is “commercial and pragmatic, an incredible M&A attorney” who “deserves tremendous credit for his M&A practice” and has “outstanding acumen, experience and leadership.”Ken has appeared on CNBC and PBS’s Nightly Business Report in their coverage of Japanese legal developments, as well as on the cover of The American Lawyer in its survey of global law firms. Ken was also recognized by The American Lawyer as “Dealmaker of the Week” for his work on Hitachi’s $5 billion sale of its hard disk-drive business to Western Digital as well as for his work on SoftBank’s $21.6 billion acquisition of Sprint, a transaction that was named the Global M&A Deal of the Year by The American Lawyer. In 2014, he was recognized by Chambers Asia-Pacific for outstanding contribution to the legal profession, one of only two attorneys to receive such an award in Asia.Ken received his B.A. magna cum laude from Amherst College in 1981. He studied Japanese language at Stanford University’s Inter-University Center for Japanese Language in Tokyo and at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), receiving a graduate degree in International Affairs in 1983. He received his J.D. degree in 1986 from the University of Chicago Law School.<h4>Select Rankings</h4>Ken’s recent notable awards include:<ul><li>Most Innovative Legal Practitioner in Asia-Pacific (Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Award 2022)</li></ul><ul dir="ltr"><li>Star Individual for Japan: Corporate/M&A (Chambers Global 2024)</li><li dir="ltr">Star Individual for Japan: Corporate/M&A (Chambers Asia-Pacific 2024)</li><li>Hall of Fame for Japan: Corporate and M&A (The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2024)</li><li>Market Leader for Japan: M&A (IFLR1000 2024)</li><li>Corporate, M&A Law, Private Equity, Private Funds and Venture Capital Law [The Best Lawyers in Japan (Recognized since 2009)]</li><li>Foreign Lawyer of the Year (Asian Legal Business (ALB) Japan Law Awards 2018)</li><li>Tokyo Managing Partner of the Year (Asian Legal Business (ALB) Japan Law Awards 2017)</li></ul>

Kenneth A. Siegel

Partner

Eric T. McCrath is the Chair of Morrison Foerster.Eric has been a trusted advisor on hundreds of public and private M&A, private equity, and financing transactions over the course of his career. As part of his market-leading M&A practice, he counsels strategic acquirers and targets in a variety of industries, including technology (semiconductors, software, AR/VR, FinTech, AI), healthcare, consumer products, financial institutions, media, gaming, and transportation. He represents leading U.S. and global companies and regularly advises on complex cross–border transactions.Eric is regularly recognized by leading publications, including Legal 500 US and Chambers USA, with client sources describing him as “greatly skilled at advising on the most complex and high–profile M&A transactions,” and noting that he “combines strong technical skills and a flair for complexity with commercial awareness, pragmatism and sound judgment.”Eric joined Morrison Foerster as a partner in 2007. He has held multiple leadership roles at the firm prior to being elected chair in June 2022. He has been a member of Morrison Foerster’s Executive Committee since 2016, the Compensation Committee since 2019, has served as Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Corporate Department of over 400 lawyers since 2018, and has also held a number of practice leadership roles.A diverse lawyer of Asian heritage, Eric is also one of the longest-standing members of Morrison Foerster’s Diversity Strategy Committee, having served since 2010.

Eric McCrath

Chair

Patrick Huard is the Global Co-Chair of the Private Equity Practice. Specializing in private equity M&A, he sits in the San Francisco office.Patrick has significant experience representing private equity funds and their portfolio companies in a broad range of corporate matters, including public and private acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, venture and growth equity investments, and divestitures. Clients rely on him for both his sophisticated legal counseling as well as his sharp business acumen.Patrick advises private equity sponsors in all aspects of their investment activity across a wide variety of industry sectors, including software and technology, business services, consumer and retail, professional services, and ESG/impact investing. Patrick is also a member of our global ESG + Sustainability steering committee.Patrick was, for the second year in a row, named a Top 10 Mid Cap M&A Lawyer in North America 2022 by MergerLinks and recommended for Private Equity Buyouts by Legal 500 2022. Our private equity practice was also recognized as a Law360 Practice Group of the Year 2021.﻿Patrick graduated, magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was elected into the Order of the Coif and served as the Notes and Articles Editor of the Journal of Law and Policy in International Business.

Patrick Huard

Global Co-Chair of Private Equity Practice

Mergers + Acquisitions