Global law firm White & Case LLP has further expanded its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and capital markets capabilities with the addition of Eric Hwang, formerly of Oracle Corp., and Christopher Rose, formerly of CODA Automotive, as partners in its Silicon Valley office.
“Eric and Christopher are highly talented lawyers who bring a wealth of knowledge to the Firm about the multiple demands placed on in-house teams,” said Oliver Brahmst, head of White & Case’s M&A Practice in the Americas. “They have a great understanding of the type and scope of services that clients — on the business and operations side as well as the legal side — are looking for from their outside advisors. We are confident that they will leverage their experience to help provide our clients with practical, pragmatic advice.”
As director of corporate development at Oracle Corp., Hwang managed aspects of Oracle’s acquisitions, including its purchase of social media marketer Vitrue, project portfolio management vendor Skire, telecommunications software provider GoAhead Software and knowledge management vendor InQuira. Prior to his corporate development role, Hwang served as senior M&A counsel in Oracle’s corporate, securities and acquisitions legal group where he led nearly half of Oracle’s acquisitions over a three-and-a-half-year period. In these positions, Hwang was involved in acquisitions with an aggregate value of more than US$22 billion.
At electric-vehicle maker CODA, Rose served as senior vice president of corporate development, in addition to managing CODA’s legal, risk management, and environmental, health and safety departments. Rose’s primary responsibilities included financing, acquisitions and negotiating international transactions and joint ventures, such as CODA’s agreement to partner with China’s Great Wall Motor Company to develop electric vehicles.
Prior to CODA, Rose practiced at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where he represented a variety of public and private issuers and underwriters on corporate finance, acquisitions and compliance matters.
In Silicon Valley, Hwang and Rose are each reunited with partner Brady Mickelsen, who joined White & Case in 2010. Mickelsen and Hwang worked together for several years at both Oracle and Skadden. Mickelsen also worked with Rose while both were at Skadden and was outside legal counsel for CODA when Rose worked there.
“Eric and Christopher’s focus on technology-driven industries and experience leading their former companies’ strategic transactions makes them a tremendous resource for our clients in Silicon Valley and globally, particularly as they expand their reach to other parts of the world,” said Bijal Vakil, executive partner of White & Case’s Silicon Valley office. “Their history working with Brady will ensure a smooth integration and create a unique White & Case corporate team here in Silicon Valley. Clients with global operations or global aspirations will find these three to be unmatched when it comes to their breadth and depth of front-line, practical experience and will have the ability to call upon the resources of a great global law firm.”
With the arrival of Hwang and Rose, White & Case has added 11 new partners this year to its Global M&A Practice – consistent with the Firm’s strategic aim of expanding this practice globally.
The Global M&A Practice has recently been involved in several high-profile transactions, such as Skype Technologies’ purchase of privately held technology companies, including the acquisitions of GroupMe, Content Circles and 3Jam; Cielo in its acquisition of Merchant eSolutions; The Talbots sale to Sycamore Partners; and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s purchase of an 80 percent stake in BEA-USA.
