Ben Hardison

Since joining Kirkland, Ben has been involved in the following matters:

• CyrusOne in its formation of a joint venture with KEPCO, a leading Japanese energy provider, for the purpose of building, operating and scaling data centers in Japan.
• KKR in its acquisition of CoolIT Systems, a provider of scalable liquid cooling solutions.
• Macquarie Asset Management in its preferred equity investment in Pavlov Media, Inc., one of the largest independent providers of fiber-based internet connectivity to off-campus student housing in the United States.
• Management team in its partnership with a private equity sponsor for the acquisition, ownership and operation of oil and gas properties.
• Blue Owl Capital (NYSE: OWL) in its acquisition of Hong Kong-based Ascentium Group Limited. 
• Consortium and KKR in the $15 billion all-cash acquisition of CyrusOne Inc. (NASDAQ: CONE). 
• KKR in the $1.9 billion acquisition of the Thermal business of Clearway Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CWEN, CWEN.A).
• Private equity sponsor in its formation of mineral interest acquisition platforms.
• Owl Rock Capital Group in its business combination agreement with Dyal Capital Partners and Altimar Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, to form Blue Owl Capital Inc., an alternative asset management firm.
• Arcosa, Inc. (NYSE: ACA) in its acquisition of Strata Materials.
• GPI Capital, a stockholder of Postmates Inc., in the proposed $2.65 billion all-stock acquisition of Postmates by Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Covia Holdings Corporation and certain of its affiliates in connection with Covia’s prearranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Covia provides diversified mineral-based and material solutions for global energy and industrial markets. As of its Chapter 11 filing, Covia’s funded debt totaled approximately $1.6 billion, including approximately $1.56 billion in secured term loan indebtedness. Prior to filing for Chapter 11 protection, Covia entered into a restructuring support agreement (RSA) with an ad hoc term lender group that collectively holds a majority of Covia’s term loan indebtedness that lays the groundwork for a comprehensive financial and operational restructuring of Covia that will reduce its go-forward leverage and fixed costs by more than $1 billion through a partial equitization of Covia’s prepetition term loan indebtedness and a strategic rationalization of its railcar fleet and distribution terminal network.
• GPI Capital in a $105 million convertible preferred equity investment in Couchbase, Inc., a technology company specializing in cloud database solutions for business-critical applications.
• ORIX Capital Partners in its acquisition of Specialty Welding and Turnarounds, LLC (SWAT), a leading provider of specialty welding and other turnaround services to the oil and gas refinery, petrochemical and industrial markets.
• The private equity sponsors and Sable Permian Resources, LLC (as operator of the oil and gas assets) in the successful completion of AEPB’s $2.1 billion out-of-court recapitalization. The transaction reduced AEPB’s debt obligations by approximately $1.4 billion and reduced upcoming debt maturities over the next four years to approximately $36 million from approximately $2.1 billion. In addition, the transaction eliminated approximately $94 million of annual cash interest expense and simplified AEPB's organizational structure.
• KKR in connection with Spur Energy Partners LLC’s $925 million acquisition of assets in the New Mexico Shelf from Concho Resources Inc.
• Western Natural Resources, LLC in its partnership with KKR to acquire producing and undeveloped oil and gas assets in the Williston Basin.
• LM Energy (f/k/a Longhorn Midstream) in the formation of a joint venture with an undisclosed producer to construct and develop a crude oil and gas gathering system and associated midstream infrastructure.
• Private oil and gas company, in connection with its entrance into a joint venture with an unrelated private oil and gas company, for the continued ownership and operation of oil and gas properties primarily located in the Permian Basin and the Barnett Shale.
• Private oil and gas company in connection with its entrance into a 50/50 joint venture with an unrelated private equity investor, for the continued ownership and operation of oil and gas properties primarily located in the Barnett Shale.
• Sentinel Midstream on Texas GulfLink, its proposed Deepwater Crude Oil Export Terminal located near Freeport, Texas and related midstream infrastructure project, which is being financed in partnership with Cresta Fund Management.
• Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets in its purchase of Wheelabrator Technologies, a leading owner and operator of waste-to-energy facilities, from ECP.
• International Refugee Assistance Project in the representation of Afghan and Iraqi translators for U.S. armed forces seeking to obtain Special Immigrant Visas.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Ben was involved in the following matters:

• Apollo Global Management and Athene Holding, in the acquisition from Voya Financial of Voya Insurance and Annuity Company, including Voya’s closed block variable annuity business, for approximately $500 million, and Athene’s agreement to reinsure $19 billion of Voya’s fixed and fixed indexed annuity liabilities.

• OMERS Private Equity and its portfolio company MatrixCare, in the acquisition of Advanced Answers on Demand.

• Darling Ingredients, in its divestiture of Terra Renewal Services.

• CIP Capital, in its investment in Compliance Solutions Strategies, through the merger of Ascendant Compliance Management, Advise Technologies and The MoneyMate Group.

• CIP Capital and its portfolio company OnCourse Learning Corporation, in the acquisition of Institute for Professional Care Education.

• CIP Capital, in its investment in Affinitiv, Inc., formed through the merger of OneCommand, DPS, Peak Performance and TimeHighway.com.

• American Home Shield, a subsidiary of The ServiceMaster Company, in the acquisition of Landmark Home Warranty.

• American Home Shield, a subsidiary of The ServiceMaster Company, in the acquisition of OneGuard Home Warranties.

• A portfolio mortgage lender, in the acquisition of certain bundled home mortgages.

• Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, representation of various clients, in family law matters.

Sidley Austin LLP

Ernst & Young LLP