Freshfields advises Zymergen on its sale to Ginkgo Bioworks

Freshfields advises Zymergen on its sale to Ginkgo Bioworks

The transaction is the first-ever of a publicly-listed public benefit corporation

International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Zymergen on its sale to Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, a leading horizontal platform for cell programming, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $300 million.

Zymergen is a biotechnology company that uses a combination of software, biology, chemistry, and automation to develop and manufacture bio-based breakthrough products and materials.

The Freshfields team was led by M&A Partner Joseph Halloum and capital markets Partner Sarah Solum; M&A Counsel Oliver Board and Associates Victor Ma, Joyce Yeo, Jenny Park and Wicy Wang; executive compensation and employee benefits Partner Lori Goodman, Counsel Sarah Ghulamhussain and Associate Lina Zhu; antitrust Partner Justin Stewart-Teitelbaum, Counsel Angela Landry and Associate Lauren Vaca.

Others in the team were tax Partner Claude Stansbury and Senior Associate David Mitchell; IP/tech transactions Partner Mena Kaplan and Associates Marissa Yu and Mili Astesiano; data privacy and security Partner Christine Lyon, Counsel Brock Dahl and Associate Cody Goodchild; foreign investment/trade compliance Partners Aimen Mir and Nabeel Yousef and Senior Associate Amy Cattle; life sciences Partner Vinita Kailasanath and Associate Sora Park; and litigation Partners Boris Feldman, Meredith Kotler and Doru Gavril, and Senior Associate Drew Liming.