Lisa Fontenot

Lisa A. Fontenot

Partner
Baker & McKenzie LLP

Biography

Lisa A. Fontenot has advised clients as to mergers and acquisitions, investments and other complex corporate transactions, and securities regulation and corporate governance matters for over 25 years.

Lisa is ranked as a leading attorney in the Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisitions Law categories of The Best Lawyers in America© 2019-2024 and is repeatedly shortlisted for the 'Media and Entertainment Lawyer of the Year' Euromoney Women in Business Law Award. She is a Thomson Reuters 'Stand Out Lawyer' and has been named an expert in Capital Markets and M&A by Euromoney Women in Business Law Expert Guides, a Woman Leader in Tech Law by The Recorder – San Francisco, and a Woman of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Practice Focus

Lisa advises U.S. and international companies, with a focus on the technology and media sectors, to successfully execute their strategic transactions, including public and private M&A, cross-border acquisitions, divestitures, carve-outs, joint ventures and investments. Lisa also advises issuers as to securities transactions, securities regulation and corporate governance or activism matters and represents investors in connection with their investments in, and equity dispositions of, portfolio companies.

Lisa is also a Steering Committee leader of the Interactive Entertainment Sector group.

Representative Legal Matters

Mergers and Acquisitions

  • Thomson Reuters in its global divestiture of the majority interest in its Elite software business to TPG to create a new legal tech company with a value of USD 500 million.

  • Monumental Studios in its acquisition of Kongregate and Gamaga from Modern Times Group (MTG) and of Games Circus.

  • US fintech public companies in their acquisitions of private fintech businesses outside of the US.

  • Aurora Acquisition Corp. on its USD 6.9 billion De-SPAC transaction to transform Better.com into a public company, and led PIPEs by SoftBank and by Novator Capital.

  • Universal Entertainment Corp and Okada Manila on the USD 2.5 billion SPAC merger with 26 Capital Acquisition Corp.

  • Brazil's ClearSale in its acquisition of ChargeBackOps.

  • SecurityAdvisor Technologies in its acquisition by KnowBe4, Inc.

  • Ukraine-based Depositphotos in its acquisition by Vistaprint.

  • Hutch Games on its USD 275 million plus earn-out sale to the Modern Times Group (MTG).

  • Bandcamp in its sale to Epic Games

  • Bespoke Capital Partners in its divestiture of Vinventions.

  • Initial Capital, in connection with its investments in numerous gaming, e-sports and Web3 technology companies and as selling stockholder in the sale of Supercell Oy to Softbank, Nexmo to Vonage Holdings, AppGyver to SAP, and SuperBit Machine to Infinite.

* Includes matters before joining Baker McKenzie.

Professional Honors

  • Leading Attorney in Corporate Law and Mergers & Acquisitions Law, The Best Lawyers in America, 2019 to current
  • Shortlisted for Best in Media and Entertainment, Euromoney Women in Business Law Award, 2023, 2022, 2018 and 2017
  • Woman of Influence, Silicon Valley Business Journal, 2017
  • Woman Leader in Tech Law, The Recorder, San Francisco, 2016
  • Thomson Reuters Stand-Out Lawyers Designation by Client Recommendation

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • American Bar Association
  • California State Bar Association
  • Society for Corporate Governance - Member
  • American Heart Association Go Red for Women movement, Greater San Francisco Bay Area - Executive Leadership Team
  • UPWARD Inc. (non-profit) - Former member of Board of Directors

Admissions

  • California~United States

Education

  • University of Virginia (JD Order of the Coif) (1994)
  • University of Virginia (MA Foreign Affairs) (1994)
  • Georgetown University School of Foreign Service (BS magna cum laude) (1990)
  • Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (EU Cert., Political Science, European Community Studies) (1989)

Publications