Biography

Mr. Adas has been named a “California Trailblazer” for his work in Private Equity and M&A by The Recorder. He has also been recognized as a leading lawyer in both M&A and private equity by Chambers USA, with sources noting his “very pragmatic approach to transactions” as well as his ability to “take into account not just legal issues but also business issues.” Mr. Adas is “Highly Regarded” for Private Equity and M&A in California by IFLR1000 and has been recognized in Legal 500 in the field of Mergers & Acquisitions. He was also named to the Daily Journal’s most recent list of Top Private Equity Lawyers and in 2017, The Recorder named Mr. Adas a “Trusted Advisor” for Mergers & Acquisitions.
Representative Transactions
- Boyd Corporation in its acquisitions of Action Fabricators and Aavid Thermalloy.
- Conversica, a portfolio company of Kennet Partners, Toba Capital and Providence Equity in its acquisition of substantially all the assets of Intelligens and various equity financings.
- Core-Mark Holding Company in various acquisitions including Farner-Bocken Co., Pine State Convenience, Forrest City Grocery Co., Finkle Distributors and J.T. Davenport & Sons.
- CPU Technology, a Carlyle portfolio company, in its sale to The Boeing Company.
- Dell in various growth equity investments.
- Evercore in connection with Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity; the sale of HTC’s smartphone business; and Palo Alto Networks’ acquisition of Demisto.
- Genstar Capital:
- in, together with TA Associates, the acquisition of Orion Advisor Solutions, following the merger of Orion and Brinker Capital.
- as principal selling stockholder, in a $282 million secondary offering of 5.75 million shares of Palomar Holdings, Inc. and in a $220 million secondary offering of 6 million shares of Palomar Holdings, Inc.
- in its acquisitions of Truck-Lite Company (n/k/a Clarience Technologies, LLC), Boyd, Infinite RF Holdings, L-Com, Ohio Transmission Corporation, Pretium Packaging, Power Products Holdings and Tecomet.
- in its sales of Boyd Corporation, the Global Marine and Mobile Business of Power Products Holdings, Tecomet, Evolution1, Pretium Packaging, LLC, ECM Industries, LLC and of its remaining shares of Palomar Holdings, Inc.
- Getty Images in its “go-private” transaction and its subsequent sale by Hellman & Freidman to The Carlyle Group.
- HCL Technologies Limited and Sumeru Equity Partners in the acquisition of Actian Corporation.
- Infinite Electronics, Inc., a portfolio company of Genstar Capital, in is acquisition of Smiths Interconnect’s Microwave Telecoms Business from Smiths Group plc and in the sale of its Kaelus Brands subsidiary.
- Macquarie Capital in its joint venture with Dickey Publishing to acquire Modern Luxury Media.
- Maxim Integrated Products in various acquisitions including Scintera Networks, Mobilygen Corp., Innova Card and the Wireless Central and Secured Transactions business lines of ZILOG and in its $21 billion sale to Analog Devices, Inc.
- Micron in its acquisition of Tidal Systems, Limited and the sale of Lexar.
- Sequoia Capital in various growth equity investments.
- Silver Lake in various acquisitions including Velocity Technology Enterprises, ForeFlight LLC and Titan Technology Partners Ltd.
- Silver Lake Sumeru in its sale of Foreflight, LLC to The Boeing Company.
- SiriusXM in its acquisition of a minority stake in SoundCloud Ltd.
- Sumeru Equity Partners in its $100 million acquisition of SocialChorus, Inc.
- Symantec Corp. in various acquisitions including LiveOffice LLC and GuardianEdge Technologies.
- Velocity Technology Solutions, Inc., a portfolio company of Silver Lake Sumeru in its acquisition of Mercury Technology Group, Inc.
- Vonage in various acquisitions including Nexmo, Telesphere Networks Ltd., Vocalocity, Inc., SimpleSignal, Inc. and iCore Networks.
- Yahoo in various acquisitions including Flurry, Inc., MSKYNET, ThumbsUp Labs and Tomfoolery.
Guides and Resources, Awards and Recognition, Speaking Engagements, Firm News & Announcements, Latest Thinking
Awards and Recognition
- Craig Adas Named a “California Trailblazer” Award Brief — The Recorder
- Craig Adas Named a "Leading" Lawyer for Corporate/M&A: Private Equity in California Award Brief — Chambers USA
- Craig Adas Named a “Highly Regarded” Lawyer for Private Equity and M&A in California Award Brief — IFLR1000
- Craig Adas named "Recommended" Lawyer for M&A: Mega-Deals ($5bn+) in the US Award Brief — Legal 500 US
- Craig Adas was named a "Leading" Lawyer for Corporate/M&A in Northern California Award Brief — Chambers USA 2012
Speaking Engagements
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Daily Journal Western M&A/Private Equity Forum
Speaker(s):
Craig W. Adas and
Matt Stewart
October 11, 2018 — San Francisco — Silicon Valley managing partner Craig Adas moderated a panel entitled “Private Equity Acquisitions,” which discussed the current private equity and M&A environments. Private Equity partner Matt Stewart served as a panelist on “M&A Tips and Tactics for Private Target Deals,” which focused on the issues counsel for private companies face and offer negotiating strategies.
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Avoiding and Managing M&A Disputes
Speaker(s):
Craig W. Adas
September 13, 2017 — San Francisco, CA — Craig Adas participated on a panel entitled “Current Tech M&A Trends and Outlook” at the 8th Annual Western M&A Forum. The panel addressed the factors that continue to drive the M&A market and the impact of recent trends on the outlook of M&A going forward.
Firm News & Announcements
- Craig Adas and Anne Cappella Named 2020 California Trailblazers by The Recorder Firm Announcement — October 05, 2020
- Weil Advises Maxim Integrated Products in its $21B Sale to Analog Devices Deal Brief — July 13, 2020
Latest Thinking
- NACD’s 2021 Governance Outlook – Board Oversight 2021: “Mission Critical” Risks and the Corporate “Mission” Converge Publication — National Association of Corporate Directors — By Lyuba Goltser, Adé Heyliger and Ellen J. Odoner — PDF — December 2020
- Heads-Up for the 2021 Proxy Season: Glass Lewis Issues Policy Updates – New Policies Focus on Racial/Ethnic Board Diversity, ESG Risk Oversight, Board Refreshment, SPACs and Executive Compensation Alert — Governance & Securities — By Lyuba Goltser, Kaitlin Descovich and Andrew Holt — PDF — December 08, 2020
- Heads-Up for the 2021 Proxy Season: Insights & Warnings for Compensation Committees are Revealed in the Say-on-Pay Vote Results of Midyear Proxy Filers Alert — Governance & Securities — By Adé Heyliger, Andrew Holt and Evan Mendelsohn — PDF — November 17, 2020
- Heads-Up for the 2021 Proxy Season: ISS Issues Policy Updates – New and Revised Policies Focus on Racial/Ethnic Board Diversity, ESG Risk Oversight, Board Refreshment and Exclusive Forum Provisions Alert — Governance & Securities — By Lyuba Goltser, Kaitlin Descovich, Elisabeth T. McMorris and Ellen J. Odoner — PDF — November 16, 2020
- SEC Adopts Amendments to Rule 14a-8: More Stringent Requirements for Shareholder Proposals Will First Apply to 2022 Proxy Season Alert — Governance & Securities — By Catherine T. Dixon and Andrew Holt — PDF — October 06, 2020