“Tad is one of the most responsive, practical and commercially savvy attorneys.”
Chambers USA 2022
“A strategic adviser to boards and management.”
Chambers USA 2022
MVP – Technology
Law360 2021
Dealmaker of the Year
The American Lawyer 2022
Top M&A Lawyers in North America
MergerLink 2021
Leading Lawyer – M&A/Corporate and Commercial: M&A: Large Deals ($1B+)
The Legal 500 US 2022
Profile
Tad Freese represents technology companies, investment banks, and other public and private companies in their corporate transactions. He currently serves as the Managing Partner of the Silicon Valley and San Francisco offices, and previously served as Vice Chair of Latham & Watkins' Global Corporate Department.
Mr. Freese helps clients navigate both significant transactions and key strategic legal issues to enable them to grow and succeed. Specifically, he advises on:
Initial public offerings (IPOs)
Mergers and acquisitions
Other public and private debt and equity securities offerings
Corporate governance issues
Public company disclosure issues
Federal and state securities law compliance
Mr. Freese draws on more than 25 years of experience at Latham, advising technology companies in Silicon Valley through all market conditions. He has also advised all of the major investment banks on IPOs (for example: Angie’s List, Arista Networks, SurveyMonkey, Twilio, and Wageworks) as well as other significant transactions.
Experience
Mr. Freese has advised clients on hundreds of transactions. Representative significant transactions include:
Advanced Micro Devices in its:
US$35 billion acquisition of Xilinx
Acquisitions of ATI Technologies and SeaMicro
More than US$5 billion of equity and debt financings
Sales of AMD’s communication products, handheld, and digital television divisions
Joint venture with ATIC to form GLOBALFOUNDRIES
Joint venture with Fujitsu Limited to create Spansion
Airbnb in its:
US$3.8 billion IPO
US$2 billion convertible senior note offering
Cloudera in its US$5.3 billion sale to affiliates of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and KKR
Corsair Gaming in its US$238 million IPO
Duolingo in its US$521 million IPO
e.l.f. Beauty in its US$142 million IPO
Expensify in its US$263 million IPO
Extreme Networks in acquisitions of Zebra’s wireless LAN business and Avaya’s networking business
Five9 in its US$14.7 billion acquisition by Zoom
Hippo Enterprises in its US$5 billion business combination with Reinvent Technology Partners Z
Hortonworks in a US$5.2 billion combination with Cloudera
Lucasfilm in:
US$4.05 billion sale to The Walt Disney Company
Divestiture of THX
Lulu’s Fashion Lounge Holdings in its US$92 million IPO
Okta in its US$6.5 billion acquisition of Auth0
Rivian in its US$11.9 billion IPO
Slack in its US$27.7 billion acquisition by Salesforce
Spansion in:
US$567 million IPO
High yield, convertible note, and follow-on offerings
Acquisition of Fujitsu’s microcontroller business
US$1.7 billion sale to Cypress
Tower Semiconductor in its US$5.9 billion acquisition by Intel
Virgin America in a US$306 million IPO and US$4.4 billion sale to Alaska Airlines
Latham earns the most finalist spots across transactional categories, and the firm’s commitment to diversity is honored in two categories in AmLaw’s Industry Awards.
Marc Jaffe and Tad Freese honored for steering electric vehicle company Rivian’s US$11.9 billion IPO, the largest IPO of 2021 and one of the largest technology IPOs in history.
Partners Marc Jaffe and Tad Freese honored for steering electric vehicle company Rivian’s $11.9 billion IPO, the largest IPO of 2021 and one of the largest technology IPOs in history.
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