Susan H. Mac Cormac

Mac Cormac is the chair of MoFo’s social enterprise and impact investing group and the chair of the firm’s energy and clean technology groups.

When Covid-19 struck, Mac Cormac said she was alarmed by the foreseeable negative impact on California’s smallest businesses. She and a client, working together, launched a California Small Enterprise Task Force.

“What was needed was capital to deploy in our poorest communities,” she said. “If you take a little philanthropic capital and invest it, it can unlock a lot of mainstream capital.” She came to lead the MoFo team in the task force’s first project, a resource guide, which progressed into weekly virtual group office hours for small businesses with legal questions.

The task force is forming the California Small Business Rebuilding Fund to direct low-interest loans to concerns impacted by Covid, with an emphasis on minority, immigrant and women-owned businesses. The fund is raising $1 billion for community development financial institutions that can quickly deploy loans to businesses in need. “It all started as a pro bono venture in my individual capacity,” Mac Cormac said. “Then I brought in the firm for pro bono legal support.”

Mac Cormac led the MoFo team representing Generate Capital, a specialty finance company that funds resource-efficient infrastructure, in its $870 million fundraising round to scale its renewable, sustainable fleet. Investors include institutions in Australia, Scotland and Sweden.

She led the MoFo team advising SoftBank in its agreement to provide $5 billion in new financing to shared workspace provider WeWork Companies Inc. plus a tender offer of up to $3 billion to existing shareholders and accelerating its existing $1.5 billion commitment.

The microbusinesses and the macroenterprises Mac Cormac deals with are at the opposite ends of the financial spectrum, but they share one commonality, she said. “They’re going well.”

— John Roemer