Kirkland & Ellis International LLP Advises TowerBrook Capital Partners on Its £185 Million Acquisition of Luxury Goods Retailer Jimmy Choo

Kirkland & Ellis International LLP announced today that it is advising TowerBrook Capital Partners in its acquisition of luxury goods manufacturer and retailer Jimmy Choo for £185 million, from Lion Capital.  This the largest deal TowerBrook has completed in the UK market and marks its first investment in the luxury goods industry.

Kirkland partner Erik Dahl led the deal team.  "Its always a privilege having the opportunity to work with the outstanding people at TowerBrook. This is a great deal for them and it has been fast, furious and required a good deal of finesse.  I am most proud of the Kirkland team who executed on all fronts to get this over the finish line, including Chris Field on the acquisition side, John Baldry who led tax and structuring, Neel Sachdev on the debt and Michel Debolt and James MacArthur on the equity front as well as the younger lawyers who supported them.  It's incredibly satisfying to see the talent that we've assembled and trained over the last few years here in London delivering results like this while operating at the top-end of the UK buyout market."

Other parties on the transaction included TSB for Tamara Mellon and the management team; SJ Berwin for Lion Capital and Clifford Chance for the financial advisers.

Mr. Dahl also led the Kirkland team representing a consortium including TowerBrook in a transaction that very recently received the award for European Large Deal of the Year (jointly with Apollo Management, L.P. and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners LP).  TowerBrook received the award for the sale of Swiss telecoms business Cablecom for SFr 2.83bn to Liberty Global at the European Private Equity Awards held in London on Dec. 6, 2006.  It was also selected as the European Fund of the Year.  The event was organised by the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA).

Kirkland & Ellis LLP is a 1,200-attorney law firm representing global clients in complex corporate, restructuring, tax, litigation, dispute resolution and arbitration, and intellectual property and technology matters. The Firm has offices in London, Chicago, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.