Overview
Steve Camahort is Co-Chair of the Global Mergers & Acquisitions practice and a partner in the Private Equity practice. He is also the Office Chair of the firm’s San Francisco office. Steve has extensive experience in M&A and related corporate governance issues. He has worked for corporate clients, private equity funds, and financial advisors in negotiated and hostile transactions, with a particular emphasis on the technology and life science sectors.
In Chambers USA, clients describe him as “a solution finder and very knowledgeable”, “thorough and incredibly impressive”, and “hands-on”. He is also praised for his “excellent judgement in applying the law to specific situations” and for providing “very pragmatic, actionable advice”.
Recognitions
- IFLR1000, Notable Practitioner (2023)
- The Legal 500 USA, M&A: Large Deals $1Bn+ (2022-2023)
- The Legal 500 USA, Private Equity Buyouts (2023)
- Chambers Global USA Corporate/M&A (2023 - 2024)
- Chambers Global USA Corporate/M&A, International & Cross-Border (2022)
- Steve has been cited in numerous guides to leading M&A practitioners, such as Chambers Global Guide to The World’s Leading Lawyers, the Best Lawyers in America (including as 2018 and 2014 Lawyer of the Year (M&A - San Francisco)), the Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Business Lawyers, Northern California Super Lawyers magazine, The International Who’s Who of Mergers & Acquisition Lawyers, The Legal Media Group Guide to the World’s Leading M&A Lawyers, the PLC Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions Handbook, and Who’s Who Legal – California
Education
- University of California, Berkeley School of Law, J.D., 1989
- Cornell University, M.S. Physics, 1986
- University of California, Santa Barbara, B.S. Physics (with high honors), 1983
Representations
Corporate Clients
- AdTheorent and FiscalNote in deSPAC transactions
- DeepMind Technologies in its sale to Google
- Ericsson in numerous transactions including its proposed acquisition of CradlePoint
- Integrated DNA Technologies in its sale to Danaher
- Keysight Technologies in numerous transactions including its acquisitions of Eggplant Software, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, and Sanjole.
- LXP Industrial Trust in its successful defense against a proxy fight and unsolicited acquisition proposal by Land & Buildings Investment Management
- Masimo in its acquisition of Sound United, a portfolio company of Charlesbank
- Mitek Systems in connection with a public unsolicited proposal from ASG Technologies Group, a portfolio company of Elliot Management, and associated shareholder activism by Elliott
- Salesforce.com in numerous transactions, including its acquisition of Demandware and its proposed acquisition of LinkedIn
- Sirna Therapeutics in its sale to Merck
- Trend Micro in its acquisitions of HP’s Tipping Point business and Cloud Conformity
- US Well Services (special committee) in its proposed sale to ProFrac Holding
- Vicuron Pharmaceuticals in its sale to Pfizer
- Vontier in connection with its investment in Tritium Holdings and Tritium’s deSPAC transaction with Decarbonization Plus Acquisiton Corp II
Private Equity Clients
- STG Partners in numerous transactions including acquisitions of Avid Technology, McAfee’s Enterprise business, FireEye’s Product business and MSC Software; and dispositions of First Advantage to Silver Lake, Capco to FIS, MSC to Hexagon AB and Symphony Teleca to Harman International.
- Vector Capital in numerous transactions including acquisitions of Aspect Software, Saba Software, RAE Systems and ChyronHego; and dispositions of Saba Software to Cornerstone OnDemand, Teletrac to Danaher and RAE Systems to Honeywell.
- Francisco Partners in numerous transactions including take-privates of LogMeIn and FrontRange Limited.
Investment Banking Clients
- Goldman Sachs, Qatalyst Partners and other leading investment banks in numerous transactions including Qualcomm’s successful defense against the Broadcom’s hostile takeover proposal and proxy fight, Salesforce/Slack and HP in its successful defense against Xerox’s hostile acquisition proposal.
Matters may have been completed before joining Paul Hastings.
Involvement
- Steve serves on the Board of Trustees of the USRowing Foundation.