Kirkland Tops European M&A and Private Equity League Tables
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP ranked first for European M&A by deal value and first for European Buyouts by deal count in Q1 2018, according to the latest legal advisor league tables released by Bloomberg and Mergermarket, respectively.
Kirkland advised on 18 announced European deals with a value of US$37.5 billion to top the Bloomberg table, whilst Mergermarket listed the Firm as advising on eight European buyouts in a busy first quarter.
These rankings follow on from Kirkland’s first position for U.K. M&A by deal value in the Mergermarket full year 2017 tables, advising on 60 deals with a combined value of US$102 billion.
London private equity partner Matthew Elliott said: “The rankings reflect the continued hard work of our team and the success of our pan-European platform and its ability to execute complex cross-border transactions for our private equity and corporate clients. It is notable that we have topped the tables in Asia, Europe and the U.S., highlighting how Kirkland has now become a go-to firm for private equity sponsors and corporates on their M&A transactions globally.”
Jörg Kirchner, a private equity partner in the Munich office, said: “It’s great to have advised our sponsor clients this quarter on acquisitions across Germany, UK, Spain, the Netherlands and France. We expect deal activity to continue across Europe through 2018 with plenty of dry powder in the hands of private equity sponsors."
Full Kirkland rankings in the latest legal advisor tables include:
Bloomberg
#1 – Europe announced M&A by value
#1 – U.S. announced M&A by deal count
#1 – U.S. announced M&A - Counsel to principals by deal count
#1 – APAC Private Equity announced M&A by value
#1 – South East Asia announced M&A by value
Mergermarket
#1 – Europe buyouts by deal count
#1 – Global buyouts by deal count
#1 – Global buyouts + exits by deal count
#1 – Global exits by deal count
#1 – Global M&A by deal count
#1 – Americas M&A by deal count
#1 – U.S. M&A by deal count
#1 – U.S. buyouts by deal count
#1 – U.S. exits by deal count
#1 – U.S. buyouts + exits by deal count
Selected European deals the Kirkland corporate practice advised on in Q1 2018 include the following across the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, France and Germany:
• Triton on its acquisition of Chevron Traffic Management, the U.K.’s largest work zone safety services provider, from Portchester Equity Limited.
• Blackstone on its public takeover bid for Hispania Activos Inmobiliarios SOCIMI SA (Hispania), a Spanish property company listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange, in a deal values the Company at €2.8 billion.
• Bain Capital Private Equity on its acquisition of Bugaboo International.
• GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, as part of a consortium acquiring a stake in French multinational hotel group AccorHotels for approximately €4.4 billion.
• Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. on the acquisition of a stake in NL-HOLDING GmbH.
• Apax Partners on its acquisition of Healthium from TPG.
• Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, one of the largest global hospitality companies, on its agreement to sell its European vacation rental business to Platinum Equity for approximately US$1.3 billion.
