Alfredo B. D. Silva
Alfredo Silva is a partner in the Transactions Department, co-chair of the firm's Social Enterprise and Impact Investing Group, and a member of the ESG Strategy Committee. Alfredo represents companies and investors in a broad range of corporate and securities law matters, with a focus on businesses in the life sciences, agtech and fintech sectors. Alfredo’s practice includes capital markets transactions, venture capital, growth equity and corporate venture financings, tender offers and other secondary offerings, digital token matters, and mergers and acquisitions. Alfredo also helps clients leverage environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors to evaluate risk and opportunities and to invest responsibly in businesses seeking sustainable growth and impact.
In his private company practice, Alfredo has served as company or investor counsel in early- and late-stage financings, minority strategic investments and impact investments in dozens of private companies, including representation of SoftBank and SoftBank Vision Fund in financings with a combined value of over $2 billion, Temasek in its $800 million minority investment in Verily Life Sciences, an Alphabet company, and Visa Ventures in strategic fintech investments around the world.
In his public company practice, Alfredo counsels issuers on strategic transactions, such as the stock-for-stock merger of Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. with Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp, as well as corporate governance and compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws and stock exchange listing standards, including advising on cutting-edge issues with respect to ESG disclosures and materiality assessments.
In addition, Alfredo works extensively with nonprofit organizations, providing advice on fiduciary issues, entity formation, structuring and other corporate matters, and assists small businesses pro bono. He incorporated and continues to advise Illuminate, the nonprofit producer of The Bay Lights, a 25,000 LED sculpture on the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, in structuring, corporate governance, and project management matters. Alfredo currently chairs the audit committees of the boards of directors of Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, a charity founded by four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry and The New York Times bestselling author Ayesha Curry to unleash the potential of every child, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, an international leader in innovative theater whose shows have won eight Tony Awards, nine Obie Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, among many other honors.
Alfredo is recognized by The Recorder as a 2013 Lawyer on the Fast Track, in 2014 was the inaugural recipient of the firm’s Kathi Pugh Award for Pro Bono Service, is a 2017 Lawyers Committee for Legal Diversity Fellow, and was the recipient of the American Bar Association’s 2023 National Public Service Award.
Alfredo received his B.S. degree, cum laude with distinction, in Engineering Sciences (Chemical) from Yale College in 2004 and received his J.D. degree from Yale Law School in 2008. Alfredo speaks conversational Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, and spent a year at China’s Tsinghua University researching issues in intellectual property protection on a Fulbright Fellowship.
Experience
Marrone Bio Innovations' Acquisition by Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp
Represented Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. in its $244 million acquisition by Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp. in a stock-for-stock merger.
Temasek’s Joint Venture with Bayer
Represented Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd. in connection with a joint venture with Bayer to create Unfold Bio, Inc., a new venture to focus on innovation in vegetable varieties with the goal of lifting the vertical farming space to the next level of quality, efficiency and sustainability. We also assisted Temasek in the initial Series A financing and negotiation of a licensing agreement between Bayer and Unfold Bio.
SoftBank Group and SoftBank Vision Fund’s Investment Transactions
Represented SoftBank Group and SoftBank Vision Fund in over $2 billion of nine-figure transactions, including investments in online lending platform Kabbage, Inc., the autonomous vehicle company Nauto, AI company Brain Corporation and infectious disease blood tester Karius, Inc.
Temasek's Investment in Verily Life Sciences and Agtech Space
Represented Singapore investment fund Temasek in its $800 million investment in Verily Life Sciences, Alphabet/Google's life sciences division, and multiple investments in the agtech space.
Intel's Investment in Cloudera
Represented Intel Corporation in its $740 million acquisition of an 18% stake in Cloudera, Inc.
Visa's Strategic Investments in the Fintech Space
Represented Visa Ventures in nearly two dozen fintech investments in the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia, including Plaid, GoodData, Flutterwave, and others.
Marrone Bio Innovations’ Public Offerings
Represented Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBII), a leading provider of bio-based pest-management and plant health products, as issuer's counsel in an initial public offering, follow-on common stock offerings, private placements, debt refinance and warrant restructure transactions for nearly $300 million.
Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc.’s Stock and Warrant Financings
Represented Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: EKSO), a leading developer of exoskeleton solutions that amplify human potential for medical and industrial uses, as issuer's counsel in multiple public and private stock and warrant offerings.
Temasek's Investment in Coherus, Inc.
Represented Temasek in its investment of up to $150 million in biosimilar therapeutics company Coherus, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRS), in a private placement transition.
Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. IPO/Reverse Merger and Public Offerings
Represented Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBIO) in its IPO/reverse merger with Targacept and a $20.7 million underwritten public offering.
RH's Public Offerings
Represented RH Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RH), a luxury home furnishings retailer, as issuer's counsel on its initial public offering, two secondary offerings of common stock, and an offering of convertible notes for a combined $1.7 billion.
InvenSense's Public Offerings
Represented InvenSense, Inc. (NYSE: INVN), a leading provider of motion processing solutions for consumer electronics, as issuer's counsel on its initial public offering, a follow-on offering of common stock and an offering of convertible senior notes for a combined $372 million.
At-the-Market Programs
Represented Cassava Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SAVA) and DURECT Corporation (Nasdaq: DRRX) in their adoption of at-the-market equity offering program.
Marrone Bio Innovation’s Acquisition of Pro Farm and Jet-Ag
Represented Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. in its stock-for-stock acquisition of Finnish biofertilizer company Pro Farm, as well as its acquisition of the Jet-Ag and Jet-Oxide product lines from Jet Harvest.
SoftBank's Acquisition of Sprint
Represented SoftBank Corp. in its acquisition of a 70% stake in wireless operator Sprint Nextel Corporation for an enterprise value of $44.8 billion in the largest Asian acquisition or investment in the U.S.
Novellus' Merger with Lam Research
Represented Novellus Systems, Inc. in its stock-for-stock merger with Lam Research, Inc., estimated to be the fourth biggest semiconductor merger in 2011 at approximately $3.3 billion.
Shutterfly's Acquisition of Tiny Prints
Represented Shutterfly, Inc. in its stock and cash acquisition of Tiny Prints, Inc., valued at approximately $460 million.
Rankings
‘Notable Practitioner’ in Capital Markets: Equity
IFLR1000 2024
National Public Service Award
American Bar Association 2023