Samuel Zaretsky

Joint Ventures

• Represented Equity Residential on its $1.9 billion strategic partnership with luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. to acquire and develop new rental apartment communities in key U.S. markets. 
• Sovereign wealth fund in connection with the formation of a $233 million programmatic joint venture with a U.S. sponsor to acquire active adult assets located throughout the U.S.
• U.S. private equity fund in connection with its joint venture for the ~$1.5 billion development of a multiphase mixed-use project.
• Sovereign wealth fund in connection with its joint venture and construction loan financing for the $400 million development of a multifamily apartment complex located in Washington, D.C.
• U.S. private equity fund with the formation of a programmatic joint venture for the acquisition and repositioning of single family rental homes located throughout the U.S.

Financings

• An affiliate of El-Ad Group in connection with obtaining $403.4 million of first mortgage and mezzanine financing to fund its $510 million take-private acquisition of Agellan Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust, a Canadian-listed REIT that owns 44 North American industrial and suburban office properties and its subsequent $434 million first mortgage and mezzanine refinancing. Kirkland also advised El-Ad Group on U.S. considerations with respect to the take-private transaction.
• U.S. private equity fund in connection with its $163.7 million first mortgage construction financing for a 42-story ground up multifamily high rise located in Jersey City, New Jersey.
• U.S. private equity fund in the placement of a $500 million revolving credit facility to be used for the acquisition and repositioning of single family rental homes throughout the U.S.
• REIT as borrower in $220 million first mortgage financing secured by four logistics centers in the U.S.
• U.S. private equity fund in the placement of a $300 million revolving credit facility to be used for the acquisition and repositioning of single family rental homes throughout the U.S.
• Financings in Qualified Opportunity Zones for U.S. private equity funds:
  
  • $102 million first mortgage construction financing for a 312 unit, 11 story apartment building located in a Washington, D.C. qualified opportunity zone. 
  • $120 million first mortgage construction financing for a 375-unit multi-family apartment building project with retail space located in a San Pedro, California qualified opportunity zone.
  • ~$51.4 million first mortgage construction financing for a 270-unit ground up multifamily apartment high rise with ground floor retail space located in a Nashville, Tennessee qualified opportunity zone.
  • $51 million first mortgage construction financing for a ground-up development for a multi-tenant mixed-used building consisting of a public charter school, office space and ground floor retail in a Bronx, New York qualified opportunity zone.
  • $34 million first mortgage construction financing for a 342-unit Class A multifamily apartment building located in a Travis County, Texas qualified opportunity zone.

Acquisitions

• U.S. private equity fund in connection with its forward-acquisition of a to-be-developed industrial warehouse facility located in Georgia.
• U.S. private equity fund in connection with its $28.5 million acquisition of a mortgage loan encumbering an operating franchised hotel property located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, together with (which occurred simultaneously) its loan modification.
• Le Tote, an eight-year old venture-backed fashion rental subscription service, in its acquisition of Lord + Taylor from Hudson’s Bay Company.
• U.S. private equity fund in connection with its acquisition of an indirect interest in an office building located in Boca Raton, Florida with an asset value of approximately $92.5 million, together with the negotiation of loan documents for a first mortgage financing secured by the building and the negotiation of a joint venture agreement with one of the existing indirect owners of the building.

Sales

• U.S. private equity fund in connection with its $610 million sale of the 1 Hotel South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida.
• U.S. private equity fund in its sale of a portion of its interest in mixed-use multi-family properties located in California, New York and Hawaii (such properties having a combined asset value of approximately $1.87 billion).
• U.S. private equity fund in connection with its $1.14 billion sale of 26 multifamily assets located throughout the U.S.
• U.S. private equity fund in connection with its $835 million sale of 16 multifamily assets located throughout the U.S.
• U.S. private equity fund in connection with its sale of an industrial facility located in Texas.

Mergers & Acquisitions and Restructurings

• McDonald’s in its sale of Dynamic Yield to Mastercard.
• McDonald’s in its sale of McDTech Labs to IBM.
• Yucaipa Acquisition Corporation in its $3.2 billion combination with SIGNA Sports United.
• Le Tote, Inc., Lord & Taylor LLC, and their affiliates in their Chapter 11 cases filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Le Tote, an eight-year old venture-backed fashion rental subscription service, acquired the 193-year-old department store chain Lord + Taylor from Hudson’s Bay Company in late 2019. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the secular decline in traditional retail, significantly constrained the Company’s liquidity. The Company will use the Chapter 11 process to pursue value-maximizing transactions for both the Le Tote and Lord + Taylor businesses.
• J.C. Penney Company, Inc. and its affiliate entities in their Chapter 11 reorganization including the sale, to Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Group, of the company’s operating business with roughly 650 owned and leased go-forward retail locations and 11 owned and leased distribution centers, as well as the formation of an OpCO/PropCo structure with 160 of the retail locations and 6 of the distribution centers being transferred to the Company’s first lien creditors and leased back to the emerged operating company.

Summer Associate, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, 2016