Profile details
About Menachem Kaplan
Mena focuses on intellectual property-related matters, with an emphasis on licensing, joint ventures, emerging technologies, settlements and IP/data matters relating to corporate transactions.
Mena regularly works with clients to help identify, protect and commercialize their technologies and brands, including mitigating risk and maximizing asset value in data-driven and IP-heavy transactions and complex IP-driven disputes. He works with both large multinational clients and emerging tech and web-focused companies on day-to-day IP-related matters.
Mena is recognized as a leading lawyer for technology transactions by Chambers & Partners. He is a frequent lecturer on IP, technology and data-driven issues and was the articles editor of the Cardozo Public Law, Policy, and Ethics Journal.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Mena was a software engineer launching data migration projects for financial services clients.
Recent work
Mena is engaged in a diverse practice handling stand-alone tech deals in addition to the tech side of corporate deals across a variety of industries, as outlined below.
Select tech transactions:
- London Stock Exchange Group on various IP and data license agreements.
- Volkswagen on its investment in and related collaboration and development arrangements with QuantumScape; and on the sale of its autonomous driving unit to Argo AI and entry into a joint venture with Ford covering the development, license and use of autonomous vehicle systems.
- Google on its $4.5 billion transaction with Jio Platforms, including investment and governance arrangements, and commercial agreements to develop an affordable smartphone with an optimized operating system.
- Royal Caribbean on deploying Bluetooth boarding passes and onboard trackers.
- American Tower Corporation in connection with its deployment of “fiber to the home” in South Africa.
- SightX in connection with a technology and services license agreement with Apollo.
- Airbus on the carve-out of Bombardier’s C-Series aircraft program and establishment of the A220 aircraft program.
Select M&A transactions:
- BuzzFeed on its sale of Complex Networks to Commerce Media.
- ABB on its pending acquisition of SEAM Group.
- Ara Partners on its acquisition of a majority stake in USD Clean Fuels and USD Clean Fuels’.
- Committee of independent directors of the board of Qualtrics on the $12.5 billion all-cash sale of the company to a private equity consortium (the largest private equity transaction of the year).
- StepStone GmbH / Appcast, Inc., subsidiaries of Axel Springer SE, on their acquisition of Bayard Advertising Agency, Inc.
- Coupa on its $8 billion sale to Thoma Bravo.
- Blackstone portfolio company, Schenck Process Group, on the sale of its food and performance materials business to Hillenbrand, Inc.
- Sonoco on its acquisition of the remaining equity interest in its joint venture with the WestRock Company, RTS Packaging, and one paper mill for $330 million.
- eBay on its acquisition of Certilogo and TCGplayer.
- Aristocrat Leisure on its $1.2 billion acquisition of Nasdaq-listed Neogames.
- Agilent on its sale of Resolution Bioscience to Exact Sciences Corporation.
- Pearson plc on the sale of its international Online Program Management business, Pearson Online Learning Services, to an affiliate of Regent LP.
- Agilent on its acquisition of e‑MSion.
- Molekule Group on its all-stock merger with Aura Smart Air.
- Holcim on its $1.293 billion acquisition of Duro-Last.
- Jungheinrich AG on its $375 million acquisition of Storage Solutions, Inc.
- London Stock Exchange Group on its acquisition of AcadiaSoft.
- Ericsson on the sale of its IoT Accelerator and Connected Vehicle Cloud businesses and related assets to Aeris Communications, Inc.
- Alpha Dhabi on its acquisition of a 25% stake in Gordon Technologies for approximately $164 million.
- AeroClean Technologies, Inc in connection with its all-stock merger with Molekule, Inc.
- Exyte on its acquisition of Airgard, Inc.
- ServiceNow on its acquisition of Era Software, Inc.
- TriNet on its acquisition of Clarus R+D Solutions.
- Carlotz on its sale to Shift Technologies.
- Siemens on the sale of its global low-voltage NEMA motors business to ABB.
- Google on its $5.4 billion acquisition of publicly-traded Mandiant Inc., as well as related transactions with Blackstone and other private equity sponsor holders of convertible preferred stock of Mandiant.
- Ericsson on its $6.2 billion acquisition of Vonage.
- América Móvil on transactions to form a multi-billion dollar telecom JV with Liberty Latin America in Chile and to sell Claro Panama to Liberty Latin America.
- Axel Springer on its acquisition of Allbritton, including publications POLITICO, Protocol and POLITICO Europe (a joint venture with Allbritton).
- Western Union on the $910 million sale of Western Union Business Solutions to Goldfinch Partners and Baupost Group.
- Honeywell on the combination of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum Computing and acquisition of a majority stake in the combined company.
- London Stock Exchange Group on its $27 billion acquisition of Refinitiv from a consortium including Blackstone, CPPIB, GIC and Thomson Reuters.
- AstraZeneca on its $39 billion acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise on its $925 million acquisition of Silver Peak and acquisition of Determined AI.
- ams OSRAM on the sale of its digital systems business in North America to Acuity.
- Royal Caribbean on the carve-out sale of its high-end cruise business Azamara to Sycamore Partners; and on its $1.3 billion acquisition of Hapag-Lloyd’s cruise shipping business.
- Starbucks on its $7.15 billion long-term licensing sales alliance with Nestlé related to its CPG business.
- Zymergen on its acquisition of Lodo Therapeutics.
Select going public transactions:
- Zymergen on its $575 million IPO and listing on Nasdaq.
- Li-Cycle on its $1.67 billion business combination with SPAC Peridot Acquisition Corp., including a concurrent $315 million PIPE.
- CarLotz on its $827 million merger with SPAC Acamar Partners Acquisition Corp.