Morrison Foerster advised SoftBank in connection with its agreement to acquire Berkshire Grey (Nasdaq: BGRY), a robotic automation company that went public via a SPAC merger in 2021. Under the definitive merger agreement, SoftBank agreed to acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of Berkshire Grey not currently owned by SoftBank for $1.40 per share in an all-cash transaction, valued at approximately $375 million. SoftBank had been an investor in Berkshire Grey since 2019. SoftBank also agreed to provide interim financing to Berkshire Grey until completion of the merger in the form of convertible promissory notes.
The MoFo team advising SoftBank was led by Tokyo office managing partner Ken Siegel, Washington, D.C. corporate partner David Slotkin, Austin corporate partner Lauren Bellerjeau, and Palo Alto corporate of counsel Christopher McKinnon, together with San Francisco corporate partner Eric McCrath, Washington, D.C. corporate partner Andrew Campbell, and Tokyo corporate partner Michael Dockery.
The wider team included San Francisco technology transactions partner Aya Eguchi, New York executive compensation partner Joshua Lerner, New York tax partners Tony Carbone and Dave Sturgeon, Washington, D.C. antitrust partners Jeff Jaeckel and Bradley S. Lui, Washington, D.C. national security partner Charles Capito, Washington, D.C. corporate partner Scott Lesmes, Boston privacy and data security partner Julie O’Neill, London partner Marie-Claire Strawbridge, Berlin partner Felix Helmstaedter, and Washington, D.C. employment and benefits partner Michael Schulman.
