Mark M. Bekheit

Spirit Airlines, Inc. (Spirit) (NYSE: SAVE) and Frontier Group Holdings, Inc. (Frontier) (NASDAQ: ULCC), parent company of Frontier Airlines, Inc., have announced a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will combine, creating America’s most competitive ultra-low fare airline. Latham & Watkins LLP represents Frontier in the transaction with a corporate deal team led by Bay Area partners Mark Bekheit and Tony Richmond, with associates Tessa Bernhardt, Jake Wasserman, Josh Landis, Melinda Vanderburg, Brian Baloun, and Brian Ferrell. Advice was also provided on finance matters by Washington, D.C. partner Ben Berman, with associate Rychelle Andersen; on benefits and compensation matters by Bay Area partner Jay Metz, with associate James Robinson; on tax matters by Bay Area partner Kirt Switzer, with associate Alexander Farris; on data privacy matters by Bay Area counsel Robert Blamires, with associate Samantha Maerz-Boening; on antitrust matters by Washington, D.C. partner Alan Devlin, Frankfurt/Düsseldorf partner Max Hauser, and Bay Area counsel Jason Daniels, with associates Matthew Piehl and Charles Sprague; and on capital markets matters by Los Angeles/New York partner Greg Rodgers and Los Angeles partner Arash Aminian Baghai, with associate Ryan Gold.~~

Feb 7

1 min

SMART Global Holdings, Inc. (SGH) (Nasdaq: SGH) has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with affiliates of Siris Capital Group, LLC, to acquire Stratus Technologies (Stratus), a global leader in simplified, protected, and autonomous computing solutions in the data center and at the Edge. Under the terms of the agreement, SGH will pay US$225 million in cash at closing and an earn-out payment of up to US$50 million, based on the gross profit performance of the Stratus business during the first full 12 fiscal months of Stratus following the closing. Latham & Watkins LLP represents SGH in the transaction with a corporate deal team led by Bay Area partners Mark Bekheit and Bret Stancil, with Austin associates Rachel Ratcliffe, Dustin Davis, and Brian Golde. Advice was also provided on benefits and compensation matters by Bay Area partner Jay Metz, with associates James Robinson and Niveda Anandan; on labor and employment matters by Chicago partner Nineveh Alkhas and Tokyo partner Hiroki Kobayashi; on intellectual property matters by Bay Area partner Anthony Klein and Bay Area counsel Arielle Singh, with associates Ryan Sanders and Tyler Israel; on tax matters by Bay Area partner Grace Lee, with associate Gregory Conyers; on data privacy matters by Bay Area partner Robert Blamires and Washington, D.C. partner Tony Kim, with associates Adriana Beach, George Evans, Austin Anderson, Jane Bentham, and Bianca Lee; on insurance matters by Los Angeles partner Drew Levin, with associate Harrison White; on antitrust matters by Bay Area partner Kelly Fayne, with associate William Kirton; and on FCPA and trade controls matters by Washington, D.C. partner Erin Brown Jones, with associate Lauren McGuire.~~

Jun 29

1 min

Entrust, a global leader in trusted payments, identities, and data security, has announced that it has entered into exclusive discussions to acquire London-based Onfido, a global leader in cloud-based, AI-powered identity verification (IDV) technology. Any agreement remains subject to regulatory approval and other steps required in accordance with applicable laws. Latham & Watkins LLP represents Entrust in the transaction with a cross-border corporate deal team led by Bay Area partner Mark Bekheit and London partner Sam Newhouse, with associates Kit Adamson and Hadi Najem. Advice was also provided on French corporate matters by Paris partner Pierre-Louis Cléro, with associate Lorraine Dorval; on employment and benefits matters by London partner Sarah Gadd and Paris counsel Romain Nairi, with associate Anna Cloke; on tax matters by London partner Karl Mah, New York partner Matthew Dewitz, and London counsel James Leslie; on data privacy and intellectual property matters by London partner Fiona Maclean, with associate Lorenzo Meusburger; and on sanctions matters by London partner Robert Price and Washington, D.C. counsel Andrew Galdes, with associates Elizabeth Annis, Allison Hugi, and Thomas Lane.~~

Feb 7

1 min

SMART Global Holdings, Inc. (SGH) (NASDAQ: SGH), a leading designer and developer of high-performance, high-availability enterprise solutions, announced that SK Telecom (SKT) (NYSE: SKM), an affiliate of SK Group, is making a US$200 million preferred equity investment in SGH. SGH plans to use the capital from SKT’s investment to enhance SGH’s capabilities and add to the company’s financial flexibility as SGH further expands the scope and scale of its Penguin Solutions branded end-to-end AI factory offerings. Latham & Watkins LLP represents SGH in the transaction with a corporate deal team led by Bay Area partners Mark Bekheit and Tessa Bernhardt, with associates Shannon Cheng and Caitlin Nguyen. Advice was also provided on capital markets matters by Bay Area partner Richard Kim, with associate Casey Tong; on tax matters by Bay Area partner Grace Lee, with associate Gregory Conyers; on antitrust matters by Bay Area partners Joshua Holian and Kelly Fayne, with associates Hanna Nunez Tse and Ben Bouwman; and on other regulatory matters by Washington, D.C. partners Jim Barker and Dean Baxtresser.~~

Jul 16

1 min

e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Naturium, a fast-growing, high-performing skin care brand for US$355 million in a combination of cash and stock, furthering its mission to make the best of beauty accessible to every eye, lip, face, and skin concern. The deal is expected to double e.l.f. Beauty’s presence in skin care to approximately 18% of retail sales. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close around September 30, 2023. Latham & Watkins LLP advises e.l.f. Beauty in the transaction with a corporate deal team led by Bay Area partners Mark Bekheit and Tad Freese, with associates Lauren Lefcoe, Christopher Lim, and Justin Tzeng. Advice was also provided on securities matters by Bay Area partners Kathleen Wells and Richard Kim, with associate Raul Gonzalez; on executive compensation, employment, and benefits matters by Bay Area partner James Metz, with associate Julia Lee; on tax matters by Bay Area partner Grace Lee, with associate Gregory Conyers; on antitrust matters by Bay Area partner Kelly Fayne, with associate Charlotte Young; on insurance matters by Los Angeles associate Harrison White; on intellectual property and data privacy matters by Bay Area partner Michelle Gross, with associates Adriana Beach, Andrew Abokhair, and Zac Alpert; on anticorruption matters by Bay Area partner Scott Joiner; on export control matters by Washington, D.C. counsel Ruchi Gill, with associate Jessie Michelin; and on FDA regulatory matters by Washington, D.C. counsel Chad Jennings.~~

Aug 29

1 min