David M. Hernand is a partner in the Mergers and Acquisitions practice at Paul Hastings, based in the firm’s Los Angeles office, and Vice Chair of the firm's global Corporate Department.
Mr. Hernand is a leading lawyer in M&A and investments across many industries, but with particular emphasis in in media, entertainment and technology. His practice includes advising companies, board of directors, special committees, investment banks, private equity and venture capital firms, and high net-worth individuals and families in public and private merger and acquisition transactions (including cross-border and distressed M&A transactions), corporate control contests, strategic partnering arrangements, public and private capital raising transactions, and general company representation matters.
He has been recognized as one of the top 100 Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal, a leading lawyer in M&A and venture capital by industry publications such as Chambers USA, Super Lawyers Magazine, and Legal 500, and as a “Power Lawyer” by The Hollywood Reporter, and one of the best lawyers in the entertainment industry by Variety.
Much of Mr. Hernand’s practice involves working with companies at the intersection of entertainment/media and technology. His past and current entertainment/media sector clients include Adaptive Studios, China Media Capital, Club Penguin, Collective Digital Studios, dick clark productions, DigiTour Media, DIRECTV, DreamWorks Animation, Eldridge Industries, FilmTrack, GameMine, GF Capital, Idealab, Machinima, Playdom, Saban Capital, Screambox, Shamrock Capital, Shaquile O'Neal, SK Telecom, Sony Entertainment, Snapchat, Style Haul, The Raine Group, United Talent Agency, Universal Music Group, Viacom, Wiredrive, William Morris and The Young Turks.
In the technology sector more broadly, Mr. Hernand has been involved in many of the most significant technology company M&A and investment transactions in Southern California in recent years, including transactions involving AutoAnything, Business.com, Collective Digital Studio, DemandMedia, HauteLook, Homestore, IGE, Intermix (MySpace), LegalZoom, LowerMyBills, Oversee, PriceGrabber, Playdom, ProvideCommerce, ReachLocal, Rent.com, SeeBeyond, Swagbucks, TeleSign, The Honest Company, and The Rubicon Project.
Experience
Mr. Hernand’s M&A-related experience includes:
- Marlin Equity’s acquisition of CEB Challenger and Effortless Experience Solutions Business from Gartner Inc. (representing Marlin Equity)
- Saban Capital’s $522 million sale of Power Rangers to Hasbro (representing Saban Capital)
- Sale of substantial stake of Dole Food Company to Total Produce at enterprise value of approximately $2 billion (representing Dole Food Company)
- Cineworld's $3.6 billion acquisition of Regal Cinema (representing Morgan Stanley)
- Sale of Draft to Paddy Power Bet Fair (representing Draft)
- Sale of Dick Clark Productions to Dalian Wanda Group for approximately US$1 billlion (representing Dick Clark Productions)
- Nuance Communications' US$215 million acquisition of TouchCommerce (representing TouchCommerce)
- Investments by Hearst and Verizon in AwesomenessTV (representing DreamWorks Animation) and related content production agreements
- China Media Capital's joint venture with Warner Brothers to establish a new movie studio (representing China Media Capital)
- Collective Digital Studio’s US$240 million merger with Prosieben’s Studio71 (representing Collective Digital Studio)
- Fosun International’s US$1.4 billion acquisition with TPG of Cirque du Soleil (representing Fosun)
- Shaquile O'Neal's sale of rights to Authentic Brands Group
- Sale of PriceGrabber to Connexity (representing CPL Holdings)
- Nordstrom’s US$350 million acquisition of TrunkClub (representing Nordstrom)
- Billabong’s disposition of Swell.com (representing Billabong)
- Niagara Bottling’s acquisitions of Advanced Refreshment and Shepley Springs (representing Niagara)
- DreamWorks Animation’s US$150 million acquisition of AwesomenessTV and separate acquisition of Big Frame (representing DreamWorks Animation)
- Management buy-out of Classes USA, PriceGrabber, and LowerMyBills from Experian Interactive (representing management)
- Madison Tyler Holdings’ combination with Virtu Financial and investment by Silver Lake Partners (representing MTH management)
- SK Telecom’s preferred stock investment in Viki.com (representing SK Telecom)
- Nordstrom’s US$270 million acquisition of HauteLook (representing Nordstrom)
- ABB’s US$3.1 billion acquisition of Baldor Electric (representing Baldor)
- Disney’s US$763 million acquisition of Playdom (representing Playdom)
- Shamrock Capital’s acquisition of Screenvision (representing Shamrock)
- Saban Capital’s acquisition of Paul Frank Industries (representing Saban Capital)
- EBay’s sale of 65% of Skype to a private equity consortium (representing Goldman Sachs)
- Microsoft’s unsolicited US$44.6 billion offer to acquire Yahoo (representing Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers)
- Merger of William Morris and Endeavor (representing William Morris’ board of directors)
- Odyssey Investment Partners’ acquisitions of EAG, SM&A and Wencor (representing Odyssey)
- URS Corporation’s US$2.6 billion acquisition of Washington Group (representing URS)
- US$3.4 billion merger of Molson and Coors (representing Morgan Stanley)
- Sale of Club Penguin to Disney for US$700 million (representing Club Penguin)
Mr. Hernand’s capital raising-related experience includes:
- Eldridge Industries’ investment in StandardVision (representing Eldridge Industries)
- Colony Northstar’s investment in Blade (representing Colony Northstar)
- DigiTour Media's $10 million preferred stock financing led by Viacom (representing DigiTour)
- GF Capital’s investment in Whalerock Industries (representing GF Capital)
- Prodege, LLC (aka Swagbucks) $60 million capital raise led by Technology Crossover Ventures (representing Prodege)
- TeleSign’s $40 million preferred stock financing led by March Capital (representing March Capital)
- DealerTrack’s sale of $80 million of capital stock of TrueCar (representing private investors)
- The Honest Company’s sale of $52 million of preferred stock to General Catalyst, IVP, Lightspeed, and Iconiq (representing The Honest Company)
- FilmTrack’s $20 million capital raise led by Insight Ventures and acquisition of Dashbox (representing FilmTrack)
- StyleHaul’s $12.5 million preferred stock financing led by Bertelsmann and RTL Group (representing Style Haul)
- Machinima’s sale of $50+ million of preferred stock and convertible notes to Google Ventures, Redpoint, and other investors (representing Machinima)
- Telly’s $8.5 million preferred stock financing led by Nasser Al-Sabah (representing Nasser Al-Sabah)
- SimpleTV’s $5.7 million preferred stock financing led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital (representing Pritzker Group)