Freshfields Advises Zymergen on its Sale to Ginkgo Bioworks — First-Ever Sale of a Publicly-Listed Public Benefit Corporation

Freshfields is advising Zymergen Inc. (Nasdaq: ZY), a biotechnology company that uses a combination of software, biology, chemistry and automation to develop and manufacture bio-based breakthrough products and materials, in its sale to Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DNA), a leading horizontal platform for cell programming, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $300 million. The transaction represents the first-ever sale of a publicly-listed public benefit corporation. Details of the transaction and its rationale can be found here.

The Freshfields team is led by M&A Partner Joseph Halloum and capital markets Partner Sarah Solum, as well as 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; 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.

Freshfields also had served as issuer’s counsel to Zymergen on its IPO on Nasdaq as a public benefit corporation.

ENDS