Pillsbury advised Nicira Inc., a privately-held cloud network software startup, in its $1.05 billion case sale to VMware Inc., a Palo Alto-based virtualization software maker. Through this acquisition, VMware expects to expand its cloud computing offerings aimed at making networks more efficient.

A team of Pillsbury attorneys operating out of the Palo Alto office counseled Nicira. The team, led by partner Jorge del Calvo, included partner Allison Leopold-Tilley and associates Lisa Higa, Heidi Mayon and Michael Riccoboni. Partners Cindy Schlaefer and Brian Wainwright also advised on the transaction, as did San Francisco-based associate Marta Porwit.