Eugene
Choi

Associate
LINKEDIN
Eugene Choi

Overview

Eugene Choi is a corporate attorney sitting in the firm's Orange County office. 

Eugene advises public companies, financial institutions, private equity sponsors and closely held businesses in a broad range of legal matters, from transformational transactions to serving as outside in-house counsel assisting with day-to-day corporate and commercial matters. Eugene has experience with public and private company mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, venture financing, business formation and structuring, and joint ventures. He also advises companies on a securities and corporate governance matters, including SEC reporting, proxy and stockholder meeting matters, fiduciary duties, corporate and alternative entity law compliance, and compliance with NYSE and NASDAQ governance requirements.

Before joining Sheppard, Eugene served as a law clerk to the Honorable Karen L. Valihura of the Delaware Supreme Court. He is a graduate of UCLA and UC Berkeley Law School, and is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst charterholder.

Experience

Merger and Acquisitions

  • Plumas Bancorp in its merger with Cornerstone Bancorp (pending approvals)
  • OpenGate Capital in the sale of its high security lock systems business to ASSA ABLOY.
  • Pathward, N.A. in a carve-out transaction of it’s specialty finance business.
  • California BanCorp in its merger of equals with Southern California Bancorp.
  • Santa Monica Amusements, LLC, the operating group to the Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier, in its sale to SC Holdings.
  • Daou Vineyards in its sale to Treasury Wine Estates.
  • A private equity fund in several add-on acquisitions to its aerospace repair portfolio company.
  • OpenGate Capital in the sale of its specialty chemical manufacturing portfolio company to the Samyang Group.
  • First Foundation Inc. in its merger with TGR Financial.
  • A specialty finance business in its sale to a publicly traded financial institution.
  • Pacific Mercantile Bancorp in its merger with and into Banc of California.
  • A private equity fund in several add-on acquisitions to its portfolio company in the HVAC installation, maintenance and repair industry.
  • TriCo Bancshares in its merger with Valley Republic Bancorp.
  • Suncrest Bank in its merger with and into CVB Financial Corp.
  • Pacific Enterprise Bancorp in its merger with and into BayCom Corp.
  • Bank of Santa Clarita in its merger with and into Bank of Southern California.
  • A publicly traded diversified holding company in several add-on and buyout transactions to its foam packaging portfolio company.
  • The Innovation Institute in various divestitures and add-on and roll-up acquisitions.

Other Matters

  • First Foundation Inc. in it’s private placement and recapitalization.
  • RadNet, Inc. in a public offering of its common stock.
  • Various financial institutions and underwriters/placement agents in subordinated debt offerings.
  • A healthcare technology company in its reorganization, recapitalization and equity raise.
  • A pharmaceutical startup in an early stage financing round.
  • Southern California Bancorp with its direct listing and listing on NASDAQ.
  • A community bank in its bank holding company reorganization.
Credentials
Clerkships

Law Clerk to the Honorable Justice Karen L. Valihura of the Delaware Supreme Court

Education

J.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2017, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Berkeley Business Law Journal 

B.A. University of California, Los Angeles, 2014

CAIA Charterholder

CFA Level 1

Admissions

California

Delaware

New York

Honors

Deal of the Year, Los Angeles Business Journal's M&A Awards, 2025