Kirkland Advises Advent and Cinven on Combination of TKE and KONE

Kirkland & Ellis has advised Advent and Cinven on entering into an agreement to combine TK Elevator (TKE) and KONE in a cash and share transaction, implying a total enterprise value for TKE of EUR 29.4 billion, making it the largest majority sponsor-led private equity transaction in Europe to date.

The combined group would have approximately EUR 20.5 billion in annual sales, of which approximately 65% in service and modernization, more than EUR 2.7 billion in adjusted EBIT, excluding synergies, and approximately 3.2 million units under maintenance.

TKE is a Germany-based global leader in vertical transportation and urban mobility. The company has around 50,000 employees and over 1,000 support centers globally. TKE became independent following its carve-out from thyssenkrupp AG in 2020. KONE is a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry with over 60,000 employees in close to 70 countries. KONE class B shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. in Finland.

Read the transaction press release

The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Benjamin Leyendecker, Adrian Maguire, Philip Goj, Dan Clarke, Marcus Commandeur, Charles Hébert, Friedrich Focke, Benedict Wilson, Fabian Waterhölter, Lisa Müller, Saniya Sidhu, Sabrina Seitz, Chiara Schmid and Albert Planella i Obach; debt finance lawyers Christopher Shield, Thomas Raftery, Aram Valesyan, Aman Nath and Zoe O’Logbon; capital markets lawyer Antoine Lebienvenu; tax lawyers Mavnick Nerwal, Michael Ehret, Sivanti Devakumar, Emanuel Götz and Ellen Ronayne; and technology & IP transactions lawyers André Duminy and Asmita Singhvi.