Gonzalo Go

The International Financial Law Review’s (IFLR) IFLR1000 guide for 2023 & 2024 ranked G as Rising Star for both Equity Capital Markets and Debt Capital Markets in the United States and the State of New York. IFLR Americas Awards named G as Rising Star for 2023, and the "VAALCO - TransGlobe merger" he assisted in was shortlisted as 2023 M&A Deal of the Year.

G earned his LLM from Columbia Law School, where he served as a student senator and graduated as the class speaker, a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar and a recipient of the Parker School Recognition of Achievement in International and Comparative Law. He earned his JD, with honors, from the Ateneo Law School and his BS in Accountancy, with honors, from De La Salle University.

G’s prior professional experiences include being (i) a capital markets associate in another global law firm in New York, (ii) an associate general counsel of Jollibee Foods Corporation, a multinational fast-food chain headquartered in the Philippines, where he gained extensive experience in managing legal risks in various business activities, such as business development and expansion, customer relations, operations, real estate, franchising, marketing, human resources, purchasing, finance, corporate communications, tax and government relations, (iii) a faculty member of the Ateneo Law School and (iv) a tax associate at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan, a top-tier law firm in the Philippines. G is also a lawyer and a certified public accountant in the Philippines.

In the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Business Law Section, G serves as chair of the 2SLGBTQIA+ Subcommittee of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee (2022-present) and vice chair of the Annual Review of Federal Securities Regulation Subcommittee of the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee (2022-present). He was a Business Law Fellow (2022-2024) and a drafting committee lead for the ABA’s comment letter on the SEC’s proposed rules on SPACs. G was named a 2023 ABA On the Rise - Top 40 Young Lawyer.

G is a member of the firm’s New York Pro Bono Committee.

• Represented VAALCO Energy, Inc. (VAALCO), a U.S.-based independent energy company with assets located in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea (NYSE: EGY, LSE: EGY), in a strategic stock-for-stock business combination with TransGlobe Energy Corporation (TransGlobe), a Canada-based independent energy company (Nasdaq: TGA, TSX: TGL, AIM: TGL) whereby VAALCO acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of TransGlobe pursuant to a Canadian plan of arrangement with TransGlobe becoming an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of VAALCO (2022). The "VAALCO - TransGlobe merger" was shortlisted by IFLR Americas as 2023 M&A Deal of the Year.
• Represented Climate Change Crisis Real Impact I Acquisition Corporation (CLII), a special purpose acquisition company, in its Up-SPAC business combination with EVgo Services, LLC, the U.S.’s largest public fast charging network for electric vehicles and the first powered by 100% renewable electricity. On closing, CLII has changed its name to “EVgo Inc.” and transferred the listing of its Class A common stock and warrants from the New York Stock Exchange to The Nasdaq Global Select Market LLC. (Nasdaq: EVGO) (2021).
• Represented Live Oak Acquisition Corp. (LOAK), a special purpose acquisition company, in its reverse merger with Meredian Holdings Group, Inc. (Danimer), a biopolymer manufacturing company and a pioneer in creating more sustainable, more natural ways to make plastic products. On closing, Green Merger Corp., a Georgia corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of LOAK, merged with and into Danimer, resulting in Danimer continuing as the surviving entity and a wholly owned subsidiary of LOAK, which, immediately following closing, became known as “Danimer Scientific Inc.” (NYSE: DNMR) (2020).
• Represented BiomX Ltd. (BiomX), an Israeli clinical stage microbiome company developing both natural and engineered phage cocktails designed to target and destroy bacteria that affect the appearance of skin, as well as harmful bacteria in chronic diseases, in its reverse merger with Chardan Healthcare Acquisition Corp. (CHAC). On closing, CHAC Merger Sub Ltd., an Israeli company and wholly owned subsidiary of CHAC, merged with and into BiomX, resulting in BiomX continuing as the surviving entity and a wholly owned subsidiary of CHAC, which, immediately following closing, became known as “BiomX Inc.” (NYSE: PHGE) (2019).

Offerings

• Represented The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), a leading global aerospace company which develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries, in subscribing to 26.2 million shares of Archer Aviation Inc.’s (NYSE: ACHR) common stock pursuant to a private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing relating to, among others, an autonomous flight collaboration among ACHR, BA and Wisk Aero LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BA, and the resolution of the federal and state court litigation among the parties (2023).
• Represented Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE: PLX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, production and commercialization of recombinant therapeutic proteins produced by its proprietary ProCellEx® plant cell-based protein expression system, in up to $20 million at-the-market offering of its common stock (2023).
• Represented William Blair & Company, L.L.C., as the sole book-running manager, in a $32.7 million offering by BeyondSpring Inc., a publicly listed clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of cancer therapies, including late-stage immune-oncology agents, of its 12,058,835 ordinary shares (2019).
• Represented the underwriters, led by BMO Capital Markets Corp., in a $30 million offering and its $87.1 million reopening by American Finance Trust, Inc., a publicly traded real estate investment trust, of 1,200,000 and 3,450,000 shares, respectively, of its 7.500% Series A cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred stock (2019).
• Represented the underwriters, led by Raymond James & Associates, Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, in the $131.7 million initial public offering of 10,974,000 shares of common stock of Mesa Air Group, Inc., a regional airline in the United States (2018).
• Represented the underwriters, led by William Blair & Company, L.L.C., in a $46 million offering by Acer Therapeutics Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of therapies for serious rare and life-threatening diseases with critical unmet medical need, of 2,555,555 shares of its common stock (2018).

Capital Markets – Debt

• Represented CNA Financial Corporation (NYSE: CNA), a global insurance organization serving businesses with a broad range of commercial insurance products, including property and casualty, surety and insurance-related services, in its issuance and reopening of total aggregate $500 million 5.500% notes due 2033 (2023).
• Represented Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as issuer in bail-inable senior notes offerings: $500 million 0.950% inaugural green bonds due 2025 (2020), $1.25 billion 0.950% senior notes due 2023 (2020), $1.0 billion 2.250% senior notes due 2025 (2020), and $1.25 billion inaugural SOFR floating rate senior notes due 2023 (2019).
• Represented the underwriters, led by Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., in The Bank of Nova Scotia’s bail-inable senior notes offerings: $650 million floating rate notes due 2024 and $1.25 billion 0.700% senior notes due 2024 (2021); $300 million floating rate notes due 2026 and $950 million 1.050% senior notes due 2026 (2021); $650 million 0.550% senior notes due 2023 (2020); $300 million 0.800% senior notes due 2023 (2020); $850 million floating rate notes due 2023 and its $750 million reopening (2020); $650 million 0.550% senior notes due 2023 (2020); $300 million 0.800% senior notes due 2023 (2020); $1.0 billion 1.300% senior notes due 2025 (2020); $1.25 billion 4.900% fixed rate resetting perpetual subordinated additional tier 1 capital notes (non-viability contingent capital) (2020); $1.25 billion 1.625% senior notes due 2023 (2020); $1.0 billion 2.000% senior notes due 2022 (2019); $1.25 billion 2.700% senior notes due 2026 (2019); $500 million 2.375% inaugural senior green bonds due 2023 (2019); $1.25 billion 3.400% senior notes due 2024 (2019); $415 million floating rate senior notes due 2021 (2019); $1.3 billion 3.125% senior notes due 2021 (2018); and $700 million floating rate senior notes due 2021 (2018).
• Represented the underwriters, led by J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, in an offering by EPR Properties, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, of $400 million 3.600% senior notes due 2031 (2021).
• Represented the deal managers, led by Citigroup Global Markets Inc., in an offering by The Dow Chemical Company (TDCC), an American multinational chemical corporation that is among the three largest chemical producers in the world, of $850 million 2.100% notes due 2030 and $1.15 billion 3.600% notes due 2050 (2020).
• Represented the dealer managers, led by BNP Paribas Securities Corp., in TDCC’s $1.48 billion tender offer to redeem 9.40% senior notes due 2039, 7⅜% debentures due 2029, 4.250% senior notes due 2034, 4.550% senior notes due 2025, 3.625% senior notes due 2026, 4.800% senior notes due 2028 and 5.250% senior notes due 2041 and in the Rohm and Haas Company’s (TDCC wholly owned subsidiary) 7.850% debentures due 2029 (2021); and that led by BofA Securities, Inc., in TDCC’s $550 million tender offer to redeem 7.375% senior notes due 2023 and its 7.875% senior notes due 2023; and Union Carbide Corporation’s (TDCC’s wholly owned subsidiary) 7.500% senior notes due 2025, 3.150% senior notes due 2024, 3.500% senior notes due 2024 and 3.625% senior notes due 2026 (2020).
• Represented the underwriters, led by BofA Securities, Inc., in an offering by Ohio National Financial Services, Inc., a provider of life insurance and related products for more than a century across the United States and Latin America, of $425 million 5.550% senior notes due 2030 (2020).
• Represented the underwriters, led by Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., in an offering by Eagle Point Credit Company Inc., a publicly traded, non-diversified, closed-end management investment company, of $66 million 6.6875% notes due 2028 (2018).

Securitization

• Represented LendingClub Corporation, a publicly listed internet financial service provider hosting an online financial community that brings together creditworthy borrowers and independent investors for their mutual benefit, as sponsor, seller and servicer, in its consumer loan asset-backed securitization transactions involving the issuance of three tranches of asset-backed notes and residual certificates by Consumer Loan Underlying Bond Credit Trust (CLUB) 2020-P1 for an aggregate amount of a $241.2 million; CLUB 2019-P1 for $270.6 million; CLUB 2019-P2 for $288.8 million; CLUB 2019-HP1 for $358.1 million; CLUB 2019-A for 268.6 million; CLUB 2018-P1 for $294.4 million; CLUB 2018-P2 for $270.3 million; CLUB 2018-P3 for $272.4 million; CLUB 2018-NP1 for $301.7 million; CLUB 2017-P1 for $323.1 million; CLUB 2017-P2 for $330 million; and CLUB 2017-NP2 for $265.8 million.
• Represented Golden Pear Funding Holdco, LLC, a Delaware company engaged in the business of funding and servicing pre-settlement and post-settlement litigation financing for plaintiffs who have personal injury claims and acquiring medical lien receivables, as issuer, seller, originator and servicer, in its $145 million asset-backed securitization transaction involving the issuance by PEAR 2021-1, LLC of two tranches of asset-backed notes and residual notes (2021) and in its inaugural $107 million asset-backed securitization transaction involving the issuance by PEAR 2020-1, LLC of one tranche of asset-backed notes and residual notes (2020).
• Represented LendingClub Corporation, as servicer and originator, in a $255 million asset-backed securitization transaction involving the issuance by Theorem Funding Trust 2020-1 of three tranches of asset-backed notes (2020).