BOSTON, February 2, 2010 – Goodwin Procter client Digital Sky Technologies received the “2009 Venture Capital Deal of the Year” award by Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst for the firm’s strategic investments in Facebook Inc. and Zynga Game Networks Inc. Goodwin Procter advised Digital Sky on both multi-million dollar transactions.
Facebook and Zynga are the first two U.S. investments for Digital Sky, a Russian investment firm focused on internet companies with extensive holdings in the CIS and Eastern Europe. As reported by Dow Jones, in May 2009 Digital Sky purchased $200 million in Facebook preferred stock, representing a 1.96% equity stake at a $10 billion valuation. Digital Sky also agreed to purchase at least $100 million of common stock from current and former Facebook employees, a unique arrangement that provided these employees liquidity and that has been viewed as stemming the need for a public offering in the near-term. In December 2009, Digital Sky led a $180 million investment round in Zynga, which again included components for Digital Sky to purchase both preferred and common shares from the company, its shareholders and its employees.
Jamie Hutchinson, a partner in Goodwin Procter’s Private Equity and Technology Practice Groups based in Washington, DC, led the deal teams on both transactions. Other Goodwin lawyers involved included Will Davisson in the firm’s Silicon Valley office, Jack Steele in Boston and Bill Weiss in New York.
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