Luke Vaz

Since joining Kirkland, Luke has worked on the following matters, advising:

• Sentinel Capital Partners on the carve-out disposal of Marioff to Inflexion.
• Sentinel Capital Partners on the carve-out disposal of Autronica to MSA Safety.
• Kingswood Capital Management on the definitive agreement to acquire Business Unit Paper by way of a carve-out from Coveris.
• Dawson Partners on the final closing of GP Finance 2 at a $750 million hard cap.
• Accel-KKR on the sale of a majority interest in Smart Communications, a provider of cloud-based enterprise customer communications, to private equity firm Cinven.
• Interogo Holding on the minority investment in Brookfield's Data4.
• KKR on its growth investment in Infobric in the Nordics and the UK.
• Preservation Capital Partners on its minority investment in Berry Palmer & Lyle (BPL).
• HGGC on its majority investment in Centralis Group, a global alternative asset and corporate services provider.
• Thoma Bravo on the acquisition of a majority stake in USU Product Business.
• K1 Investment Management on strategic growth investment in Board Intelligence.
• Apax Partners on the acquisition of the Zellis Group, a leading provider of payroll and HR software solutions, from Bain Capital.
• Apex Group on the acquisition of GAM’s Management Company activities.
• Carlyle on the $3.8 billion acquisition of global medtech company Baxter International Inc.’s kidney care segment.
• MRI Software, a portfolio company of TA Associates, GI Partners and Harvest Partners on its agreement to acquire Capita One.
• Helmerich & Payne, Inc. on a definitive agreement to acquire KCA Deutag International Limited for $1.9725 billion in cash.
• Arctos Partners in connection with a majority investment in Hayfin Capital Management.
• J.M. Huber Corporation on the sale of CP Kelco to Tate & Lyle.
• Funds advised by Apax Partners on the acquisition of the Zellis Group (payroll and HR software solutions) from Bain Capital.
• Vista Equity Partners in acquiring Model N, with the transaction valued at approximately $1.25 billion.
• Funds managed by AGG Capital Management on the acquisition of a majority stake in AFE.
• Arctos Sports Partners in acquiring a minority equity stake in Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) though a landmark partnership with Qatar Sports Investments (QSI).
• Gen II Fund Services on the acquisition of Crestbridge’s PE/RE Fund Administration Business, increasing Gen II’s assets under administration to more than $1 trillion.
• Apax Partners on its proposed acquisition of Kin and Carta plc.
• Birkenstock Holding plc and L Catterton on the initial public offering of Birkenstock.
• Francisco Partners on its acquisition of The Weather Company from IBM.
• Vista Equity Partners on a strategic growth investment in Resilinc.
• Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, LLC (CD&R) in its acquisition of Focus Financial Partners Inc., with the transaction valued at over $7 billion.
• Bain Capital on a $3.16 billion take-private of Chindata Group Holdings Limited (hyperscale data center solution).
• Everise and Brookfield in connection with an investment into Everise by Warburg Pincus (valued at $1 billion).
• Mohari Hospitality on its acquisition of Tao Group Hospitality (valued at $550 million).
• Knox Lane on its strategic investment in Spectrum Science.
• Apex Group on its acquisition of Efficient Group (Pty) Ltd in South Africa.
• Apex Group on its acquisition of various operating businesses of MJ Hudson Group plc.
• Coller Capital on a strategic minority investment in Coller by Hunter Point Capital.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Luke worked on the following matters, advising:

• Authentic Brands Group (ABG) in its strategic partnership with David Beckham to co-own and manage Beckham’s global brand.
• TPG’s The Rise Fund on in its investment in Airtel Africa’s mobile money business (valued at US$2.65 billion valuation).
• Facebook on its acquisition by Oculus VR of Beat Games, a Czech-based game studio.
• Facebook on its acquisition of Papers with Code, an AI platform.
• Silver Lake on co-leading a group which invested US$650 million into Klarna (valued at US$10.65 billion).
• L Catterton Europe on its acquisition of a significant minority shareholding in Little Moons.
• Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan on leading a £210 million funding round of Lendable (valued at £3.5 billion).
• Index Ventures on its co-leading of a US$100 million Series B funding round for Beauty Pie.
• Index Ventures on its co-leading on a seed round of Workbounce.
• Endeavor on its US$1.2 billion acquisition of OpenBet.
• Headspace on its merger with Ginger, a leader in on-demand mental healthcare.
• An online fashion marketplace on copyright, trademark and intellectual property issues.
• A UK-headquartered travel company on its reorganization of its airline tour operators.
• A publicly listed China-headquartered technology and internet group on global data privacy compliance for cross-border products, including products across the gaming and social media space.
• A leading global accountancy and consultancy firm on its global privacy impact assessment (PIA) process to minimize privacy and security risks, and achieve compliance with global information laws for new systems and tools.

Latham & Watkins LLP

• Associate, 2020–2022
• Trainee Solicitor, 2018–2020