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MoFo Advises Boyd Gaming in Pending Sale of FanDuel Interest for $1.755 Billion

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Morrison Foerster advised long-term client Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD) in the pending sale of its stake in FanDuel Group...

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Morrison Foerster advised long-term client Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD) in the pending sale of its stake in FanDuel Group to Flutter Entertainment plc (LSE: FLTR) for total cash consideration of $1.755 billion. The closing is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. The MoFo team was led by San Francisco M&A partner Brandon C. Parris, Palo Alto M&A partner Mike Krigbaum, New York tax partner Richard Nugent, San Francisco technology transactions partner Tessa Schwartz and San Francisco finance partner Eric Min, together with San Francisco M&A associate Sam Breaks, New York tax of counsel Rebecca Balinskas, and San Francisco technology transactions associates Michelle Kelley and Kevin Kallet.Read <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boyd-gaming-to-sell-fanduel-interest-for-1-755-billion-302502838.html" target="_blank">Boyd’s press release</a>.

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Brandon Parris is a corporate partner and serves as co-chair of the firm's Global Transactions Department.Described as “an exceptional attorney with significant experience and knowledge” by a client in IFLR1000, Brandon Parris maintains an active corporate practice focused on strategic transactions, including complex public and private mergers, tender offers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and strategic investments.He represents U.S. and global clients, boards of directors, special committees, management teams and companies in a variety of industries, including technology, gaming, energy, media, consumer goods and services, and financial services.Brandon also maintains a public company practice. He advises members of executive management, boards of directors, and special committees on strategic and corporate governance issues, and counsels numerous public companies on all aspects of public company issues.Brandon is regularly recognized as a leader in his field, including being named as a 2020 "Dealmaker of the Year" by The American Lawyer, a 2019 "M&A MVP" by Law360, and a 2019-2020 "Top 100 Leading Lawyer" by the Daily Journal. He has also been recognized by rankings publications including Chambers USA, IFLR1000 and Legal 500, with a client describing him in Chambers USA as “excellent at identifying the critical issues within a transaction and methodically addressing and solving each one in order. He has a superior knowledge of what is 'market' on various terms and he uses this to solve problems.”Brandon formerly served as co-chair of Morrison Foerster's Global M&A Practice Group.

Brandon Parris

Co-Chair of Transactions Department

Mike focuses on mergers and acquisitions, including private and public acquisitions of technology and life sciences companies on both the buy-side and target-side, and venture capital transactions, as well as on emerging company counseling.For his M&A clients, Mike advises on domestic and cross-border deal structuring and mechanics relating to stock and asset purchases, mergers, divestitures, tender offers, joint ventures, spin-offs and restructurings.Mike also represents a number of venture capital firms, corporate venture capital divisions and emerging companies, both in the technology and life science industries, with respect to venture capital transactions, negotiations and structuring, as well as general emerging company counseling.<h4>Representative Transactions</h4><h5>Mergers and Acquisitions</h5><ul><li>Vontier Corporation in its sale of Global Traffic Technologies, LLC, a US-based leading provider of intelligent traffic management systems and solutions, to Miovision, a Canada-based traffic optimization company.</li></ul><ul><li>Era Software, an observability and log management innovator, in connection with its sale to ServiceNow (NSYE: NOW), a leading digital workflow company.</li><li>Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. in connection with its $2 billion acquisition of Questar Pipeline, consisting of Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline, LLC, its subsidiaries, and certain associated affiliates, including Overthrust Pipeline, White River Hub, and Questar Field Services from Dominion Energy, Inc.</li></ul><ul><li>Unical Aviation Inc. and certain of the company’s affiliates in its sale to Platinum Equity, a Los Angeles-based global investment firm with more than $25 billion of assets under management. </li><li>MobileIron, Inc. in its sale for approximately $900 million to Ivanti, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise-grade intelligent IT management and security software solutions.</li><li>McAfee in its acquisition of Skyhigh Networks, Inc., a worldwide leader in the cloud access security broker (CASB) market segment.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its $1.54 billion acquisition of AirWatch, a mobile device management provider.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Ananda Networks, a cloud-managed service that enables organizations to create their own private networks</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of AetherPal, Inc., a market leader in mobile support.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Avi Networks, developer of an application delivery platform designed to deliver multi-cloud application services.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of BitRock, Inc. (doing business as Bitnami), a leader in application packaging solutions.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of CloudCoreo, a next-generation cloud security service.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of CloudVelox, a designer of cloud automation and optimization software.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Desktone, Inc., a Massachusetts-based company that pioneered Desktops as a Service (DaaS), delivering desktops and applications as a cloud service.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of <a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://mode.net/">Mode.net</a>, developer of a cloud-based online performance platform intended to transform the cost and convenience of private fiber.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of network analytics software firm Nyansa.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of the Mountain View-based cloud networking startup VeloCloud™ Networks, Inc.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Veriflow Systems, provider of network security systems designed to eliminate outages and vulnerabilities in the network.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in the sale of the rights to its VMware vCloud Government Service, a FedRAMP-compliant solution that was developed in partnership between QTS and VMware to deliver cloud services to the Federal sector, to QTS Realty Trust, an international provider of data center, managed hosting, and cloud services.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Wavefront, a metrics monitoring service for cloud and modern application environments.</li><li>Walmart in its acquisition of assets of <a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://art.com/">Art.com</a>, the world’s largest online retailer in the art and wall décor category.</li><li>Walmart in its acquisition of Bare Necessities, an online retailer of women’s bras, swimwear, shapewear and sleepwear.</li><li>Walmart in its acquisition of Eloquii, Inc., a retailer of women’s apparel specifically designed for women size 14 and up.</li><li>Walmart and its Global eCommerce division in a strategic alliance with <a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://jd.com/">JD.com</a>, China’s largest e-commerce company by revenue, in a transaction that included Walmart’s acquisition of an equity stake in <a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://jd.com/">JD.com</a> valued at approximately $1.5 billion.</li><li>Walmart in its acquisition of MeMD, Inc., a multi-specialty telehealth provider.</li><li>Vendorin, LLC, an integrated payment network and supplier engagement platform, in its $90 million sale to Corcentric, Inc., a leading provider of source-to-pay and order-to-cash software and services. </li><li>Mirantis, Inc. in its acquisition of the Docker Enterprise platform business from Docker, Inc.</li><li>McKesson Corporation, a leading international healthcare services and information technology company, in its acquisitions of Vantage Oncology, LLC, a leading national provider of radiation oncology, medical oncology and integrated cancer care, and Biologics, Inc., an oncology pharmacy services company. The combined value of the two transactions is $1.2 billion.</li><li>McKesson Corporation in its acquisition of LABSCO, a privately held, Kentucky-based distributor of diagnostic equipment for community hospital labs and private office labs.</li><li>McKesson Corporation in the $130 million sale of ZEE Medical to Cintas Corporation, the publicly traded uniform and first aid products company.</li><li>McKesson Corporation in the restructuring and divestiture of McKesson’s VITAL Platform to private equity firm Comvest Investment Partners.</li><li>Intel Corporation in its acquisition of the HTML5 developer tools business of appMobi, Inc., a Lancaster, PA, company that provides development tools and cloud-based services built on HTML5, CSS and Javascript.</li><li>Intel Corporation in its acquisition of Basis Science, Inc., a wearable fitness watch company.</li><li>Intel Corporation in its acquisition of Mashery, Inc. via a reverse triangular merger.</li><li>Intel Corporation in the acquisition of a Korean computer vision company.</li><li>Intel Corporation in the asset purchase of a digital media design company.</li><li>Santen Pharmaceutical in its acquisition of InnFocus, a development stage medical device company.</li><li>RNTS Media N.V. in its acquisition of Heyzap, Inc., a mobile advertising network company based in San Francisco.</li></ul><h5>Venture Capital</h5><ul><li>Walmart in a $500 million financing and strategic alliance with New Dada, China's largest localized on-demand logistics and grocery O2O ecommerce platform.</li><li>Delivery Hero in connection with several venture capital investments.</li><li>Taiho Ventures (an investment arm of Taiho Pharmaceuticals) in its strategic investments in multiple startup companies.</li><li>Astellas Venture Management (an investment arm of Astellas Pharma) in multiple venture capital investments, including both early- and late-stage investments.</li><li>Santen Pharmaceutical in multiple venture capital investments, including both early- and late-stage investments.</li><li>Spectrum28 (an early-stage investment fund) in multiple seed investments.</li><li>Longitude Capital in multiple venture capital investments, including both early- and late-stage investments, as well as cross-border investments.</li><li>New Enterprise Associates and Oak Investment Partners as sellers and continuing shareholders in a strategic alliance between their portfolio company Lianlian Group, a China-based mobile services company, and American Express.</li><li>Snaplogic, a cloud and data integration company, in its Series A, Series B and Series C financing rounds.</li><li>DNAnexus, a provider of cloud-based genome informatics and data management, in its incorporation and Series A and Series B financing rounds.</li><li>Sight Sciences, an ophthalmic medical device company, in its Series A and Series B financing rounds.</li><li>Sugarfina, Inc., a luxury candy brand that now operates over 30 boutiques and Nordstrom shop-in-shops across North America, in its Series B Preferred Stock financing.</li></ul>

Mike Krigbaum

Partner

Richard Nugent is a partner in the firm’s New York office and chair of its Tax practice.Richard has over 25 years of experience advising on the tax aspects of complex transactions including public and private M&A, spin-offs, joint ventures, internal restructurings, and financings and capital markets transactions. He also advises debtors and creditors within and outside of bankruptcy.Richard has been recognized in Chambers USA, where he is praised as “an extremely knowledgeable and dedicated attorney” and “well-versed in communicating complex issues.” The Legal 500 describes Richard as having a “deep understanding of the business, including product supply, marketing, and distribution” which clients describe as “priceless when representing us in deal matters.” Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, Richard was a tax partner at another international law firm in New York. He serves on the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association Tax Section and is a member of the Tax Forum. A sought-after speaker, Richard frequently presents on tax topics for Practising Law Institute programs.Richard holds an LL.M. with distinction from Georgetown University, a J.D. with honors from Rutgers School of Law – Newark, and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Saint Peter’s University. He also served as a law clerk to Judge Richard F. Suhrheinrich of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit and Judge Robert P. Ruwe of the U.S. Tax Court.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Represented Centuri Holdings and parent company Southwest Gas Holdings in $238 million public offering of common stock</li><li>Represented Paine Schwartz Partners, a global leader in sustainable food chain investing, in its investment in Chex Finer Foods, a value-added specialty food distributor</li><li>Represented the board of Continental Disc Corporation, a portfolio company of Tinicum, in connection to its sale to Baker Hughes, an energy technology company</li><li>Represented Hooter’s Inc. and Hoot Owl Restaurants, L.L.C. in the acquisition of over 100 restaurants from Hooters of America LLC, which filed for Chapter 11 protection on March 31st in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court</li><li>Represented Centuri Holdings and parent company Southwest Gas Holdings in $353 million IPO and concurrent private placement</li><li>Represented C2 Capital Partners in its investment in Stella & Chewy’s, a leading North American pet food manufacturer</li></ul>

Richard Nugent

Chair of the Tax Practice

Tessa Schwartz has an active practice counseling companies on intellectual property issues, and negotiating complex intellectual property and commercial agreements. She advises on a range of strategic transactions, including key patent licenses and acquisitions, technology procurement agreements, and complex development, collaboration, joint-venture and distribution deals. Tessa also regularly advises companies on the IP aspects of their M&A transactions.In addition to maintaining an active practice and working with clients on a daily basis, Tessa is founder and co-chair of the firm’s Artificial Intelligence Group and previously served as co-chair of the global Transactions Department. Tessa advises clients primarily in technology and data intensive sectors, representing artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, machine learning, software, SaaS, cloud computing, hardware, consumer electronics and products, social media, Internet, mobility and wireless, space and satellites, e-commerce, advertising, healthcare, fintech, transportation, semiconductor, and other companies. Tessa’s M&A experience includes advising Autodesk, BlackBerry, Fortive, Honeywell, Salesforce, Uber, Unilever, Unity, Walmart, and others on the IP aspects of strategic transactions. Tessa provides clients with prelitigation and litigation advice. She frequently advises executives and senior management on strategic business, legal and commercial issues, including the structuring of transactions, risk management and contract compliance. She also counsels clients with respect to a wide variety of IP issues, including patent exhaustion and implied licenses, standing and standards, the protection of data and other trade secrets and the development and distribution of open-source software.In addition to her transactional expertise, Tessa’s litigation background includes representing clients in arbitration, as well as in state and federal courts in such areas as antitrust, false advertising, unfair competition, breach of contract, securities, trademark, copyright and trade secret law. Her litigation experience includes complex, multidistrict and class action litigation, as well as appellate advocacy.Tessa has been ranked in Chambers and Legal 500, with clients describing her as, “one of the best attorneys I've ever worked with.” Tessa has been recognized by Chambers USA 2022 as being highly experienced in the field of technology and intellectual property transactions. Clients have commented on Tessa as having "...the ability to translate complex topics into what's necessary to get a deal done. She does a good job of making our technology accessible”. Further, Tessa "ticks all of the essential boxes, timely, efficient, knowledgeable and helpful, but she really stands out by taking time to learn our business and our products so she can give practical and actionable advice. Tessa helps us focus on key issues and balance risks to make choices."Tessa’s pro bono efforts have included work for The Biomimicry Institute, Goodwill, Common Sense Media, Business for Social Responsibility, The World Wildlife Fund, Build Change and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). She also provides IP advice to a variety of cultural, media and arts organizations; and other assistance for nonprofits. She recently received the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services from the State Bar of California.Tessa received her B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1991. In 1996, she earned her J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif.Tessa served as global managing partner of Morrison Foerster from 2016 to 2022 and previously served as co-chair of the firm’s Technology Transactions Group.

Tessa Schwartz

Eric Min is a partner in the Finance and Private Equity Buyouts & Investment Groups at Morrison Foerster.Eric regularly advises private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies and fintech companies in a variety of complex U.S. and cross-border financing transactions, including leveraged acquisitions, syndicated lending, investment grade lending, asset-based lending, and warehouse facilities. Eric has substantial experience representing clients in transactions covering a wide variety of industries, including technology, fintech, consumer and retail and professional services.

Eric Min

Samantha Breaks is a corporate associate in the San Francisco office of Morrison Foerster.Samantha represents public and private companies and private equity firms in connection with complex transactions, including cross-border mergers and acquisitions. She also counsels on general corporate and governance matters.Prior to joining the firm, Samantha was at another major law firm, where she advised on complex transactions and corporate governance.Samantha earned her J.D. from the University of Ottawa. She received her Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management (International Affairs) from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario.

Sam Breaks

Associate

Rebecca Midori Ulich-Balinskas is of counsel in the Tax Group and is based in Morrison Foerster’s New York office. Her practice focuses on U.S. federal, state and local tax transactional and controversy matters.Rebecca provides U.S. federal, state and local tax advice, guidance, and representation on most business transactions, including M&A, reorganizations, fund formations and fund investments, joint ventures, spin-offs and divestitures, international structuring, and capital markets offerings. Her state and local tax practice encompasses matters across the U.S. regarding sales and use tax, franchise and income tax, gross receipts tax, excise tax, unclaimed property, and real estate transfer tax, among others. Her clients include large multinational companies, banks, financial institutions, Fintech companies, REITs, joint ventures, start-ups, and fund sponsors and investors. She also has extensive experience representing clients before the IRS and in state and local tax controversy matters at the audit, administrative, and judicial levels. In addition, her work includes advising non-profits and charities in their formation and/or ongoing charitable activities.Rebecca has written on various tax issues and has spoken at several tax conferences.Rebecca obtained her LL.M. in Taxation from New York University School of Law. She earned her J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law, where she served as an Articles Editor of the St. John’s Law Review. Rebecca received her B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Columbia University, Barnard College.

Rebecca M. Balinskas

Of Counsel

Michelle is an associate in Morrison Foerster’s Technology Transactions Group.Michelle’s practice is focused on transactions involving a broad range of intellectual property and technology, with an emphasis on complex commercial transactions, software and SaaS licensing, and counseling on emergent technologies. Michelle advises on enterprise-level contracts to drive product development and go-to-market strategies, including IP licensing agreements, master service agreements, manufacturing and supply arrangements, product referral agreements, and credit and security agreements. She also provides product counseling, including regarding compliance with applicable laws. She has also advised on issues such as enforceability of IP terms, reversion of IP ownership, patent infringement, and covenants not to sue with respect to IP.In addition, Michelle represents public and private companies and private equity funds in connection with IP aspects of commercial transactions including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, investments, financing arrangements and securities offerings. Her experience includes advising on transactions involving acquisitions of AI, software, and semiconductor manufacturing businesses. Michelle earned her J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law with a specialization in Media, Entertainment, and Technology. She also holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining the firm, Michelle was a Judicial Extern to the Hon. Alexander F. MacKinnon at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

Michelle Kelley

Kevin Kallet is an associate in Morrison Foerster’s San Francisco office and a member of the firm’s Technology Transactions Group.Kevin’s practice focuses on transactions involving a broad range of intellectual property and technology, with particular emphasis on software and SaaS licensing and emerging technologies. He regularly advises clients in the artificial intelligence, enterprise software, and digital media industries, and provides product counseling on technology development, deployment, and regulatory compliance.Kevin counsels both providers and customers of AI models and services on issues relating to the development, procurement, and deployment of AI technologies. His experience includes drafting and negotiating contracts and terms of use for the provision of AI services, developing internal and external AI governance frameworks, and advising on training data practices and related contractual commitments. Kevin also advises companies and their financial sponsors regarding intellectual property and AI-related aspects of M&A transactions.Prior to joining Morrison Foerster as an associate, Kevin was a summer associate in the Technology Transactions Group.Prior to law school, Kevin worked at Google as a legal specialist, supporting the commercial and product counsel teams for various global products. He draws on his background to provide comprehensive advice to clients based on their practical business needs.Kevin earned his J.D. from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and received Pro Bono Highest Honors. Kevin held leadership positions for Berkeley Law’s Startup Law Initiative and the Berkeley Business Law Journal and was a member of the California Law Review. Kevin earned his B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Arizona Honors College.