Brian E. Davis
Professional Profile
Brian Davis is a Real Estate partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Mr. Davis represents and counsels clients in a broad range of real estate joint ventures, acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, development, and structured finance. Mr. Davis actively represents clients in structuring joint ventures for the acquisition and/or development of industrial, retail, hotel, office and multi-family properties. Mr. Davis has developed and employed innovative structures for build-to-suit industrial developments that capitalize on the respective strengths of each stakeholder in the deal. Mr. Davis also has extensive experience in structuring and restructuring sale-leaseback, leverage lease, and synthetic lease transactions. Mr. Davis borrows on his unique experience in the real estate aspects of bankruptcy in assisting clients in the acquisition of distressed debt and maximizing value in distressed real estate.
Representative Matters
Represented private equity firm in acquisition and simultaneous sale-leaseback of theater portfolio.
Represented private equity firms in the acquisition and financing of $665 MM in face value of distressed debt.
Represented operator in $400MM+ build-to-suit program for the development of distribution facilities throughout North America.
Represented private equity firm in the development and financing of a 1,000 room hotel and a 500 room hotel and accompanying golf course in Orlando, Florida.
Represented private equity firm in the $625 MM acquisition of eight hotels.
Represented private equity firm in $250MM sale-leaseback of 186 bowling centers in conjunction with acquisition of business.
Represented private equity firm in $175MM sale-leaseback of 65 restaurants in conjunction with acquisition of business.
Represented private equity firm in $1B+ leveraged acquisition of department store chain and contemporaneous sale-leaseback of real estate portfolio.
Represented private-equity firm in sale-leaseback of ski resort business.
Represent operator in $400MM+ build-to-suit program for the development of distribution facilities throughout North America.
Represented publicly-traded client in $200MM+ in various sale-leaseback transactions of industrial warehouse and distribution centers.
Represented operator in $150MM leverage lease of corporate headquarters.
Represented various clients in more than $200MM+ in synthetic lease transactions.
Represented theater operator in restructuring of $100MM+ leverage lease facility in connection with Chapter 11 reorganization.
Represented pension fund in formation and investment in joint venture for the development of multifamily apartment residence communities.
Represented pension fund in joint venture and securitized financing for industrial property portfolio.
Represented publicly-traded REIT in joint venture for the development of various industrial parks in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Represented publicly-traded REIT in formation of joint venture for development of industrial campus.
Represented hotel operator in joint venture in the development of a hotel condominium and residential condominium project in Southeast Florida.
Represented hotel operator in acquisition of a brand of extended-stay hotels.
Represented developer in development of DePaul University dorms.
Represented theater operator in portfolio sale of theaters in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Represented airline in successful recharacterization, settlement and discharge of over $1B in principal amount of special facility bonds.
Memberships & Affiliations
Urban Land Institute, Member of the Industrial & Office Space Development Council (Gold Flight)
Other Distinctions
Adjunct Professor, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Spring 2010
Adjunct Professor, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, Spring 2008, Spring 2009.
Panelist: Distressed Hotel Symposium, Miami, FL, April 2009
Lecturer: Strategic Approaches to Distressed Real Estate, Distressed Commercial Real Estate Summit EAST, New York, NY, September 2008
Lecturer: Purchasing Third Party Debt at Kirkland & Ellis Seminar, Purchasing Distressed Debt - Issues and Planning Opportunities, New York and Chicago, December 2008
Lecturer: Title Insurance Basics at Understanding the Sophisticated Real Estate Practice 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, Practising Law Institute, Oct. 2005, Dec. 2006, Oct. 2007 and Nov. 2008Mentioned in: "Big Suits:UAL Bankruptcy," American Lawyer (Feb. 2003)
Publications
Co-Author: "Sale-Leaseback Transactions in Today's Private Equity Environment," Venture Capital Review (Spring 2007)
Author: "Lease Recharacaterization in Bankruptcy: United Air Lines Recharacterization Cases Bolster the Debtor-Tenant's Cause," Pratt's Journal of Bankruptcy Law (July 2006)
Author: "Sale-Leaseback Offers Compelling Alternative," N.Y.L.J. (Nov. 25, 2002)Author: "The State Giveth and The State Taketh Away: Preserving the Municipality's Ability to Zone for Group Homes under the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 ," 59 U.Pitt.L.R. 193 (1997)Author: "The Home Health Care Crises, Medicare's Fastest Growing Program Legalizes Spiraling Costs," 6 Elder L.J. 215 (1998)
Courts
K&L Gates (f/k/a Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LLP), - Associate, September 1998 - May 2000
