Steve
Kozachok
Shareholder; Business Law
Steve is the head of our MedTech Practice Group and is based in our Minneapolis office. He is a member of the Business Law Section, and practices principally in the areas of:
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Strategic relationships
- Financings
- Commercial contracting
- Entity formation and business planning
- Corporate governance
- Public debt and equity financing
- General corporate and securities law
Steve has extensive corporate and securities law experience. He practiced as an associate and then partner in the corporate group of a large local law firm for eight years before serving for three years as the associate general counsel for a major medical device company, where he was responsible for M&A, financings, securities law compliance and reporting and corporate governance matters. Steve next served as general counsel for a leading, publicly held computer security software company until its sale to a publicly held buyer in late 2008, and then as general counsel for the network security division of the post-merger entity until 2009.
Mergers and Acquisitions
Representing public and privately held companies in a wide variety of matters, as both outside and in-house counsel, Steve has completed more than 60 M&A transactions and more than 25 venture capital financings.
Steve’s M&A experience includes: tender offers; fixed and variable cash and stock consideration ratios; going-private transactions; deal protection measures such as no shops, go shops, voting agreements and force-the-vote provisions; defensive measures, including poison pills, staggered boards and supermajority approval provisions; leveraged buyouts, earn-outs, retained interests, and seller paper; ESOPs; strategic relationships involving joint development, clinical services, license, supply, distribution and joint venture agreements; domestic and international antitrust submissions; and filings with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Representative M&A transactions include:
- Private equity clients – acquisition by private equity clients of a:
- heavy equipment manufacturing company
- trucking tarp manufacturing company
- wine capsule manufacturing company
- UK-based arts and crafts company
- direct mail company
- taxidermy supply company
- Medical technology clients:
- Acquisition by St. Jude Medical, Inc. of
-EP MedSystems, Inc.
-Contingent acquisition option for an embolic protection device
company
-Advanced Neuromodulation Systems, Inc.
- Sale of Pulmonetic Systems, Inc. to VIASYS Healthcare (now CareFusion)
- Software-related clients:
-Sale of Secure Computing Corporation to McAfee, Inc.
-Sale by Secure Computing Corporation of SafeWord network access
business to Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd.
-Acquisition by Secure Computing Corporation of Securify, Inc.
- Acquisition by family office client of a one-third interest in an oil and gas-related company
- Acquisition by MoneyGram International, Inc. of the assets of ACH Commerce, Inc.
- Acquisition by Supervalu Inc. of Total Logistics Corporation
- Acquisition by Deluxe Corporation of New England Business Service, Inc.
- Acquisition by Quintiles Transnational Corp. of the assets of Bioglan Pharma, Inc.
Financings
Steve’s financing experience includes advising issuers and investors in a broad variety of transactions, including angel and venture capital investments, private equity financings, and public and private placements of equity and debt, including private investment in public equity (PIPE) transactions.
Representative transactions include:
- Venture investment by a medical device company in an ablation catheter company
- PIPE investment by St. Jude Medical, Inc. in Cambridge Heart, Inc.
- Venture financing for:
- Raymedica, Inc.
- Integrated Decisions and Systems, Inc. (IDeaS)
- SimonDelivers.com
- HealthEZ, Inc.
- EM Vascular, Inc.
- Virtuel Medical, Inc.
- Image-Guided Neurologics, Inc.
Admissions and Bar Memberships
- Admitted to practice in Minnesota.
- Member of the Minnesota State, Ramsey County and American bar associations.
Recognitions
One of only two individuals in Minnesota listed as up-and-coming M&A attorneys in 2005 in
Chambers USA.
Named a “Rising Star” by Minnesota Law & Politics for five consecutive years.
Featured and quoted in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal on legal issues regarding MedTech companies Boston Scientific Corporation and Medicom Health Interactive.
Community Involvement
Steve serves on the Board of Directors of the MinnDakotas Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, is a mentor in the Twin Cities Diversity In Practice program, and volunteers in the LegalCORPS program. He formerly served on the board of directors of The First Tee of Saint Paul.
Education
- B.A. in economics and French, with honors, from the University of Notre Dame.
- J.D., with honors, from the George Washington University Law School.