Kirkland Advises Americold on Joint Venture with EQT
Kirkland & Ellis advised Americold Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: COLD), a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics, on the formation of a new joint venture with EQT’s Active Core Infrastructure fund, which is focused on the ownership, operation and potential development of high-quality cold storage warehouse facilities in North America. Under the terms of the agreement, Americold will contribute 12 cold storage facilities to the joint venture with an aggregate value in excess of $1.3 billion at inception. On a standalone basis, this joint venture is expected to be among the largest operators of cold storage facilities in North America. EQT will acquire a 70% interest in the joint venture, and Americold will retain a 30% equity interest and serve as day-to-day manager of the platform to ensure continuity of service and Americold’s proven operational excellence for customers. Americold expects to receive approximately $1.1 billion in net cash proceeds from the transaction, which is expected to be used to repay outstanding debt.
Read the transaction press release
The Kirkland team includes real estate lawyers Christopher Hartmann, Ari Stavsky, Samuel Zaretsky, Lucas Fernandez-Rocha, Ben Stoyenko, Dakota Priest and Evan Lane; capital markets lawyers Christian Nagler, Sarah Lipinski and Jihao Ding; corporate lawyers Abhishek Kolay and Kuljeet Nagra; tax lawyers Mike Beinus, Justin Barbosa and Jake Jung; debt finance lawyers Andrew Idrizovic and Matt Stummer; technology & IP transactions lawyers Jeff Seroogy and River Crane; environmental transactions lawyers Mike Saretsky and Persis Ticknor-Swanson; antitrust & competition lawyers Mike Thorpe, Chris Thomas, Stephanie Greco, Ben Able, Maria Raptis and Jamie DiMario; employee benefits lawyer Jeff Quinn; executive compensation lawyer Jabir Yusoff; employment & labor lawyers R.D. Kohut and Hannah Fraley; and investment funds ERISA lawyer Joe Lifsics.
