Chad G. Rolston

Partner

Silicon Valley
chad.rolston@lw.com
+1.650.463.3079

PRACTICES

  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Private Equity

INDUSTRIES

  • Entertainment, Sports & Media
  • Healthcare & Life Sciences
  • Retail & Consumer Products
  • Technology

BAR QUALIFICATIONS

  • California

EDUCATION

  • JD, Harvard Law School, 2007
  • BS, American University, 2000

PROFILE

Chad Rolston delivers solution-oriented counsel to private equity sponsors, portfolio companies, and strategic clients in complex transactions.

Chad guides clients on their highest profile mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, carve-outs, joint ventures, controlling and minority investments, growth equity, and general corporate matters across a range of industries, including:

  • Software
  • Internet and digital media
  • Healthcare and life sciences
  • Semiconductors
  • Retail and consumer products

Drawing on prior software sales and engineering experience and complementary skill s representing both strategic and private equity buyers and sellers in public and private M&A, he has a keen sense of parties’ needs and interests on all sides of a deal.

EXPERIENCE

Chad’s experience includes advising:

Private Equity

  • Silver Lake on numerous transactions, including:
    • Its lead participation, along with DigitalBridge, in Vantage Data Centers’ US$6.4 billion equity investment round
    • Its investment in ProService
    • Its US$1 billion investment in Reliance Retail Ventures
    • Klarna’s US$650 million equity funding round
    • Thrasio’s US$1 billion equity funding round
    • Its investment in BJYU’s
    • Its US$1.35 billion investment in Jio Platforms
    • Its acquisition of and numerous transactions for TEG
  • GreyLion Partners on numerous transactions, including its:
    • Sale of MTL Holdings to Carlisle Companies
    • Investment in Webconnex
    • Investment in TickPick
    • Investment in SkinSpirit
    • Investment in Delphon Industries
    • Investment in Black Bear Diner
  • The Veritas Capital Vantage Fund and its portfolio companies on numerous acquisitions
  • Dragoneer Investment Group on various transactions
  • a16z (Andreessen Horowitz) on various transactions
  • Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on acquiring a 48% stake in GlobalLogic
  • Bridgepoint Advisers on acquiring Calypso Technology with Summit Partners
  • Indigo Partners on acquiring Frontier Airlines
  • Encore Consumer Capital on selling Juice Tyme to Highlander Partners

Internet, Software, and Digital Media

  • Intuit on numerous transactions, including:
    • Its US$7.1 billion acquisition of Credit Karma
    • Sale of the Quicken business to H.I.G. Capital
  • Postmates on its US$2.65 billion sale to Uber Technologies
  • OpenTable on its US$2.6 billion sale to The Priceline Group
  • Lyft on numerous transactions, including its acquisitions of Motivate and Blue Vision Labs
  • Fandom on numerous transactions, including its:
    • Acquisition of an entertainment and gaming brands portfolio from Red Ventures
    • Acquisition of Curse Media
    • Sale of D&D Beyond to Hasbro
  • Modernizing Medicine on numerous transactions, including its acquisition of gMed
  • Bread Financial (formerly Alliance Data Systems) on various transactions, including selling its Epsilon business unit to Publicis Group
  • AlphaDraft on its sale to FanDuel

Semiconductor

  • Broadcom on multiple acquisitions and dispositions, including:
    • Avago Technologies’ US$37 billion acquisition of Broadcom
    • Its US$5.9 billion acquisition of Brocade Communications Systems
    • Selling Brocade’s data center switching, routing, and analytics business to Extreme Networks
    • Selling Brocade’s Wireless and ICX Switch business to ARRIS International
    • Its US$6.6 billion acquisition of LSI Corporation
    • Its US$606 million acquisition of Emulex Corporation
  • IXYS on its US$750 million sale to Littelfuse
  • Mellanox Technologies on acquiring:
    • EZchip Semiconductor
    • Kotura
    • IPtronics
  • Pericom Semiconductor on its US$413 million sale to Diodes and successful defense against hostile bidder Montage Technology
  • Mattson Technology on its US$300 million sale to Beijing E-Town Capital
  • Xcerra on its US$796 million sale to Cohu
  • Intermolecular on its sale to Merck

Healthcare and Life Sciences

  • Relypsa on its US$1.53 billion sale to Galenica
  • Alios BioPharma on its US$1.75 billion sale to Johnson & Johnson
  • Landmark Health on an investment by General Atlantic
  • Cytomx Therapeutics on acquiring technologies from Agensys
  • DVS Sciences on its sale to Fluidigm Corp.
  • Revolution Medicines on acquiring Warp Drive Bio and disposition of its genome mining platform to Ginkgo Bioworks
  • Carbylan Therapeutics on its merger with KalVista Pharmaceuticals
  • OncoMed Pharmaceuticals on its merger with Mereo BioPharma
  • Nivalis Therapeutics on its merger with Alpine Immune Sciences
  • Mirna Therapeutics on its merger with Synlogic
  • Transcept Pharmaceuticals on its merger with Paratek Pharmaceuticals
  • Thoratec Corporation on acquiring assets from Terumo Corporation

Strategic Transactions

  • Lucasfilm on its US$4.05 billion sale to The Walt Disney Company
  • Kimpton Hotels on its US$430 million sale to the Intercontinental Group

SPAC Transactions

  • Starry on its US$1.66 billion business combination with FirstMark Horizon
  • Hippo Enterprises on its US$5 billion business combination with Reinvent Technology Partners Z
  • Boxed on its US$900 million merger with Seven Oaks Acquisition Corp.