Eric Chow is a business lawyer representing public and private companies in a broad range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, as well as other corporate transactions, with a focus on the Northern California market. He is a partner with the firm and a member of the Transactions Practice.
Having lived on four continents, Eric not only understands the culture and business environment in these countries but also speaks and writes Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, and conversational Portuguese. He has a passion for cross-border work, in particular U.S./Greater China region transactions and U.S./European transactions, bridges the cultural gaps and differences in professional practices with his language skills and prior experience working in a big law firm’s Hong Kong office.
Being Silicon Valley trained, Eric’s experience naturally gravitates towards the innovative technology sector, where he regularly advices technology company clients on all kinds of legal matters typically encountered by Silicon Valley style venture backed companies. He also works with clients across a wide variety of other industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, real estate, manufacturing, energy, and beyond.
Representative Experience*
- Represented Vive Organic in its sale to Suja Life, a Paine Schwartz Partners portfolio company.
- Represented 20Cube Logistics in its business combination with Evo Acquisition Corp.
- Represented Mirantis, Inc. in its acquisitions of amazee.io and Shipa.
- Represented AltheaDx in its sale to Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ: CSTL).
- Represented Vcheck Global in a strategic investment from Sunstone Partners.
- Represented DiCentral in its sale to TrueCommerce, a Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe portfolio company.
- Represented CBRE (NYSE: CBG) in multiple acquisitions around the United States.
- Represented VMware (NYSE: VMW) in its acquisition of Bitfusion.
- Represented Centric Software in its sale to Dassault Systèmes (EPA: DSY).
- Represented Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) in its acquisitions of Cyphort and AppFormix.
- Represented Avnet (NASDAQ: AVT) in its acquisitions of Softweb Group and Dragon Innovation.
- Represented Tecan Group AG (SWX: TECN) in its acquisition of SPEware.
- Represented Securly in its acquisition of TechPilot Labs.
- Represented Double Beam in its sale to Verifone (NYSE: VFN).
- Represented Docea Power in its sale to Intel (NASDAQ: INTC).
- Represented Move, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOVE) in its US$995m sale to News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA).
- Represented Millennial Media (NYSE: MM) in its acquisition of Jumptap.
- Represented Solera Networks in its sale to Blue Coat Systems (NASDAQ: BCSI).
- Represented IDEV Technologies in its sale to Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT).
- Represented Atex Group’s sale of Atex AdBase to Newscycle Solutions (Vista Equity Partners).
*Certain of these matters were handled prior to joining Foley.
Community Involvement
Eric is dedicated to giving back to society with his technical competency through pro bono work, primarily in two areas: (i) re-entry into society and (ii) immigration work for domestic violence survivors and DACA participants. Eric collaborated with Immigrant Legal Defense, OneJustice and the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area in assisting multiple undocumented survivors of domestic violence with applications for U-Visas to remain in the United States with a pathway to citizenship. He is also experienced with DACA renewal. He co-led a monthly expungement clinic in partnership with the Community Legal Services of East Palo Alto where he managed attorneys and other volunteers and assisted eligible individuals in applications to the courts to expunge eligible prior criminal records.
Presentations and Publications
- Presenter, “Legal Considerations for High Growth Startups” in collaboration with 4thly Accelerator.
- Contributor, “American Bar Association Private Target Mergers and Acquisitions,” Deal Point Study.
- Contributor, LexisNexis Practical Guidance “Letters of Intent in Private M&A Deals.”
- Author, “Privacy and Data Security Considerations in M&A Transactions” published with LexisNexis Practical Guidance.
Languages
- Cantonese (native)
- Mandarin (native)
- Portuguese (conversational)
Significant Recent Decisions Relevant To Private Company M&A
Foley Represents ARCHIMED in Acquisition of Majority Stake in Innovative Skincare Company Cellese
Louis Lehot and Eric Chow Author Overview of Potential Issues in M&A Due Diligence
Legal Considerations for Chinese Investors Eyeing the US Market
