Eric McCrath is a partner in the firm’s San Francisco office and serves as co-chair of Morrison & Foerster's Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Investment & Buyouts Groups. He regularly advises strategic buyers and sellers in complex public and private M&A transactions.
Mr. McCrath’s experience includes leveraged acquisitions, cross-border transactions, strategic investments, public and private securities offerings, and general corporate matters. He has worked with domestic and foreign clients across a variety of industries, including semiconductors, computer software, consumer products, financial institutions, investment management, media, professional services, and transportation.
In 2011 and 2012, Mr. McCrath was recognized as a “Rising Star” in the category of Mergers and Acquisitions in Northern California Super Lawyers. Mr. McCrath was recommended by Legal 500 US in 2013.
While receiving his J.D. from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Scholar, he served as Notes Editor of the Journal of Transactional Law.
Representative Matters
- Advised Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., a NYSE-listed casino owner/operator, in its bid to acquire NASDAQ-listed Ameristar Casinos, Inc. in an all-cash merger, with a total enterprise value of $2.8 billion, including debt of $1.9 billion and cash on hand of $116 million. (2012)
- Advised GREE, a leading mobile gaming content and platform provider, in its acquisition of App Ant Studios, Inc., a mobile game development studio. (2012)
- Advised Autodesk, Inc. in its $60 million acquisition of Socialcam, Inc., a mobile video application. (2012)
- Advised Intel Corporation in its acquisition of a Brazilian software services company providing embedded system serviced based on Android and Linux platforms. Terms not disclosed. (2012)
- Advised Intel Corporation in its purchase of roughly 1,700 patents and patent applications from InterDigital Corporation for $375 million. (2012)
- Advised Intel Corporation in its $140 million acquisition of certain intellectual property and other assets related to the research and development of hardware network interconnect technologies from supercomputer maker Cray Inc. (2012)
- Advised GREE, Inc. in connection with its $210 million acquisition of Funzio, Inc., a mobile social gaming developer. (2012)
- Advised Intel Corporation in its $125 million acquisition of parts of the InfiniBand business of QLogic Corporation. (2012)
- Advised Pendrell Technologies, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pendrell Corporation, in its $90.1 million purchase of a controlling stake of the outstanding capital stock of privately-held ContentGuard Holdings, a leading inventor, developer and licensor of the digital rights management (DRM) and related content distribution patents and technologies from Microsoft Corporation, Technicolor USA, and Time Warner ContentGuard Holdings. (2011)
- Advised McAfee, the world's largest dedicated security technology company in its acquisition of NitroSecurity Inc. (2011)
- Advised Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. in its acquisition of certain intellectual property assets of DASC, LLC related to the design and manufacture of ice hockey skates. (2011)
- Advised Intel Corporation in connection with its acquisition of Fulcrum Microsystems Inc. (2011)
- Advised GREE, Inc. in connection with its $104 million acquisition of mobile social gaming network provider OpenFeint Inc. (2011)
- Advised ICO Global Communications, a Craig McCaw-backed telecommunications company, in a unique restructuring and reorganization transaction with total deal value of approximately $1.5 billion. The transaction involved the auction sale of certain ICO assets to DISH Network Corporation, including ICO's equity interest in its subsidiary, DBSD North America (a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding pending in the Southern District of New York). (2011)
- Advised ON Semiconductor Corp. in connection with its $31.4 million acquisition of the image sensor business unit of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. (2011)
- Advised Intel Corporation in its $1.4 billion acquisition of Infineon’s Wireless Solutions (WLS) business. WLS is a leading provider of cellular platforms to top-tier global phone makers.(2010)
- Advised Intel Corporation in connection with its $7.7 billion acquisition of McAfee, Inc. (2010)
- Advised ON Semiconductor Corp. in connection with its $600 million acquisition of Sanyo Semiconductor Co. Ltd. (2010)
- Advised The Clorox Company in the carveout and $780 million sale of its auto-related business to private equity firm Avista Capital. The transaction included the sale of Armor All and STP brand products as well as affiliated manufacturing facilities. (2010)
- Advised Intel Corporation, in its acquisition of Virtutech, Inc., the leader in virtualized systems development. (2010)
- Advised WineCommune and J.J. Buckley, the largest wine trading and auction site on the internet, in their sale to Société des alcools du Québec. (2010)
- Advised Technicolor S.A. in connection with the sale of Convergent Corporation, its wholly owned subsidiary. (2010)
- Advised VMware in its stock acquisition of GemStone Systems, Inc., a privately held data management solutions company, and its international subsidiaries (Japan, India and the U.K.). (2010
- Advised VMware in its acquisition of Integrien, a leader in real time application and infrastructure performance analytics software. (2010)
- Advised Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. in connection with its acquisition of Talon Lacrosse, LLC. (2010)
- Advised Cleantech America, Inc. in connection with its sale to Meridian Energy Limited. (2009)
- Advised Sumitomo Heavy Industries in connection with its acquisition of Axcelis Technologies, Inc.’s 50% interest in SEN, a joint venture between Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Axcelis. (2009)
- Advised Geolo Partners in connection with its acquisition of Carmel Valley Ranch. (2009)
- Advised Brazos Pacific Partners in connection with its acquisition of a controlling stake in Sonoma county-based Copain Wine Cellars and Atelier-Copain. (2009)
- Advised Gruppo Campari in its acquisition of Wild Turkey, the #1 premium brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey from Pernod Ricard for $575 million. (2009)
- Advised First Carbon Solutions in its acquisition of Enverity Corporation. (2009)
- Advised Sumitomo Heavy Industries in connection with its acquisition of Demag Ergotech GmbH and Van Dorn Demag Corporation. (2008)
- Advised Restoration Hardware in its $325 million acquisition by Catterton Partners. (2008)
- Advised GESD Capital Partners in the acquisition of eight California and Northwest wineries for more than $200 million from Constellation Brands. (2008)