Jacob Traff
Overview
Jacob Traff is a partner in the European Private Equity Group in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. He focuses his practice on all types of corporate transactions for private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies.
Jacob joined Kirkland in 2013 and became a partner in 2017. In 2017/2018, Jacob spent almost a year on secondment in Bain Capital’s European legal team. Legal Week named Jacob to its list of 2021 “Rising Stars: Europe’s Best Up-and-Coming Private Equity Lawyers”, and he is recognised as a “Recommended Lawyer” for Private Equity: Transactions and High-Value Deals in The Legal 500 UK (2026).
Experience
Representative Matters
Corza Medical on the sale of its sale of Biosurgery business unit, which includes the TachoSil to EQT
Lone Star on various transactions, including the:
- acquisition of Lonza’s capsules & health ingredients division
- $3.8 billion acquisition of Hillenbrand
Apax Partners on various transactions, including the:
- acquisition by its portfolio company WGSN of IWSR
- acquisition of Zellis from Bain Capital and subsequent acquisition by Zellis of Benify from Vitruvian (together with a related minority investment by Vitruvian)
- sale by its portfolio company Healthium of its Clinisupplies business to KKR and subsequent sale of Healthium to another KKR fund
- simultaneous acquisitions of OCS and Finwave from, respectively, Charme Capital Partners and Lutech
- proposed £220 million public-to-private of Kin and Carta plc
- NOK 3.8 billion public-to-private of EcoOnline and subsequent acquisitions of the software division of Alcumus (together with a related minority investment by Inflexion) and Ecometrica
- acquisition of Lutech from One Equity Partners
- acquisition of PIB Group from Carlyle
- $3.4 billion public-to-private (together with Warburg Pincus, CPPIB and OTPP) of Inmarsat and subsequent $7.3 billion combination of Inmarsat with Viasat
Bain Capital Private Equity on various transactions, including the:
- and 3M to form a JV to buy Scott Safety Business and acquire Madison Fire for $1.95 billion
- on the investment in Tingstad
- backed Rocket Software on the acquisition of Vertica Analytics database platform from OpenText
- acquisition of Eleda from Altor
- proposed €1.1 billion public-to-private (together with its consortium partners) of Caverion
- €3 billion acquisition (together with BC Partners) of Fedrigoni
- investment in CitiusTech alongside Baring Private Equity Asia
- €1.7 billion acquisition (together with its consortium partners) of ITP Aero from Rolls-Royce
- €2.1 billion public-to-private (together its consortium partners) of Ahlstrom-Munksjö Oyj (now Ahlstrom)
- equity arrangements in connection with the acquisition (together with NB Renaissance) of Engineering Group
- proposed €3.4 billion public-to-private (together with Carlyle) for OSRAM
- acquisition of Maesa
- acquisition of DSM Sinochem Pharmaceuticals (now Centrient) from Royal DSM and Sinochem
- sale of its stake in Securitas Direct / Verisure to Hellman & Friedman
- €1.35 billion sale (together with Altor) of EWOS to Cargill
Bain Capital Private Equity and Cinven on the:
- CHF 4.2 billion acquisition of Lonza’s Specialty Ingredients business (now Arxada) and subsequent acquisitions of Troy Corporation and Enviro Tech
- €5.3 billion public-to-private of STADA and subsequent $660 million acquisition of Takeda’s OTC portfolio in Russia and the CIS
Bain Capital Tech Opportunities on the:
- investment in Sdui Group
- acquisition of finova from Norland Capital and simultaneous acquisition of Iress’s UK mortgage sales and originations software business
- investment in SumUp as lead investor of a €590 million investment round and its subsequent further investment alongside Sixth Street Growth in a €285 million investment round
Solum Partners on the:
- €380 million public-to-private (together with the Deprez family) of Greenyard
- investment in Fountain Plants
- sale of Bomarea and Avoamerica to Unifrutti Group
GTCR on various transactions, including the:
- acquisition of Zentiva from Advent
- acquisition of JMG Group from Synova
- €350 million acquisition of TachoSil from Takeda and simultaneous acquisition of Surgical Specialties Corporation from Vivo Capital to create Corza Medical
- acquisition by its portfolio company Resonetics of Medelec
- acquisition of Callcredit from Vitruvian
Oakley Capital on various transactions, including the:
- reinvestment by Oakley Capital V in Contabo alongside KKR
- acquisition of TechInsights by Oakley Capital IV alongside CVC Growth
- investment in Affinitas Education
- acquisition of ICP Education (now Bright Stars)
- sale of WebPros by Oakley Capital III to CVC and simultaneous $200 million reinvestment by Oakley Capital IV
- acquisition of a majority stake in Globe-Trotter
Vista Equity Partners on various transactions, including the:
- backed Finastra and Model N on the carve-out sale of Finastra’s core banking software business, Universal Banking
- acquisition of Allocate Software from HgCapital, subsequent reinvestment by HgCapital and then sale to RLDatix
- acquisition by its portfolio company Mediaocean of Flashtalking from TA Associates
- £725 million public-to-private of Advanced, subsequent acquisitions by Advanced of Docman, Modern Systems and Kirona and investment by BC Partners
- acquisitions by its portfolio company STATS of Prozone Sports and Perform Group from DAZN to create STATS Perform
- C$4.8 billion public-to-private by its portfolio company Misys of DH Corporation to create Finastra and subsequent proposed sale of Finastra’s Treasury and Capital Markets business to Apax Partners
- acquisition by its portfolio company Granicus of Firmstep
- sale of Sovos Compliance to HgCapital
- equity arrangements in connection with the acquisition of Accelya from Warburg Pincus
ABRY Partners on various transactions, including the:
- investment in Inoapps
- investment in the $350 million capital raise by ERS Insurance (now IQUW)
- acquisition of Options Technology from Bregal Sagemount and subsequent acquisition of Fixnetix from DTC Technology Company
- investment in Sermo
Prior Experience
SJ Berwin LLP
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Associate, 2011–2013
- Trainee Solicitor, 2009–2011
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Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2011, Admitted to practice as a Solicitor of England and Wales
Languages
- Swedish
- English
Education
- BPP Business SchoolM.A., Law with Business2011
- BPP Law School, HolbornLegal Practice Course2009
- St. Chad’s College, Durham UniversityLL.B., LawHons.2008