Mark Gardner

Since joining Kirkland, Mark has worked on the following cases: 

• Digital 9 Infrastructure on the sale of Verne Global.

• IK Partners on the sale of its controlling interest to Wendel.

• Union Park Capital on its sale of Industrial Physics Global Holdings.

• Clayton, Dubilier & Rice on the $7 billion take-private acquisition of Focus Financial Partners.

• Ares on its proposed business combination with X-energy.

• Likewize and Genstar on their definitive agreement regarding Genstar’s strategic investment in Likewize.

• GIC on its investment in Unither.

• Madison Dearborn Partners on the majority stake in Unison.

• Vista Equity Partners, alongside an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management, on its $16.5 billion acquisition of Citrix Systems, Inc.  

• EQT on its significant investment, together with Vitruvian Partners, in CFC. 

• ADTRAN on its business combination with ADVA.

• Hg and Vista Equity Partners on the sale of Allocate to RLDatix.

• Vista Equity Partners on its acquisition, alongside funds managed by Blackstone, of Ellucian.

• Francisco Partners and BeyondTrust on a strategic investment from Clearlake Capital.

• Sun European Partners on the sale of Dreams to Tempur Sealy International.

• Francisco Partners on the definitive agreement to purchase VitalSource Technologies LLC from Ingram Content Group. 

• Starwood Capital Group on its $6 billion joint acquisition, together with Blackstone Real Estate Partners, of Extended Stay America. 

• SOF-12 Cambridge BidCo Limited, owned by Starwood Funds, on the c. £467.9 million recommended cash offer for RDI REIT.

• Trinseo on the €1.137 billion contemplated acquisition of Arkema’s PMMA business.

• GTCR and Corza Health, Inc., on the acquisition of TachoSil® Fibrin Sealant Patch from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. 

• Madison Dearborn Partners on its C$981 million acquisition of IPL Plastics.

• Vista Equity Partners on the acquisition of Farelogix Inc. by Vista portfolio company Accelya.

• Starwood Capital Group on the acquisition of a 29.42% stake in London-listed RDI Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

• Avaya Holdings Corp. on its strategic partnership with RingCentral, Inc.

• Bristol-Myers Squibb on its US$13.4 billion divesture of Celgene’s OTEZLA® program to Amgen.

• AbbVie on its US$63 billion acquisition of Allergan.

• Bristol-Myers Squibb on its US$74 billion acquisition of Celgene.

• Bristol-Myers Squibb on the sale of its UPSA consumer health business to Taisho Pharmaceutical for US$1.6 billion.

• Francisco Partners on its US$3.4 billion acquisition of VeriFone Systems, Inc.

• EQT Partners on its sale of leading medical device company HTL-Strefa to Investindustrial.

• Toys ’R’ Us on the sale of its stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to toy retailer Smyths.

• Nordic Packaging and Container (Finland) Holdings Oy, a company controlled by Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC on the €365 million sale of its Powerflute semi-chemical fluting business to Mondi Group.

• Triton on the sale of engineering steel producer Ovako AB to Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation.

• Pamplona Capital Management on the sale of Partner in Pet Food (‘PPF’), a market-leading European pet food company headquartered in Hungary, to Cinven.

• Strategic Value Partners on its acquisition of Vita Group from TPG and other shareholders.

• Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, one of the largest global hospitality companies, on its sale of its European vacation rental business to Platinum Equity for approximately US$1.3 billion.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Mark worked on the following cases:

• Monsanto Company on its US$66 billion merger with Bayer AG.

• AT&T on its US$85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc.

• General Electric on the US$2.8 billion sale of its European Fleet Servicing Business.

• Mondelez International, Inc. on its US$3.9 billion investment in a global coffee joint venture with Douwe Egberts.

• General Electric on its US$13.5 billion acquisition of Alstom’s Power and Grid business.

• AT&T on its US$67 billion acquisition of DirecTV.

• US pharmaceutical manufacturer on a US$415 million acquisition.

• Phillip Morris International Inc. on its US$750 million investment in a Russian distribution company.

• General Electric on its US$3 billion acquisition of Lufkin Industries.

• A global energy company on an extensive competition compliance audit and subsequent competition compliance guidelines.

• General Electric on its US$3.3 billion acquisition of Dresser, Inc.

• A global pharmaceutical company on a US$3.1 billion acquisition.

• Kraft Foods on its GB£11.7 billion hostile acquisition of Cadbury plc.

• NBC Universal on the establishment of a joint venture with News Corp./ Fox.

Arnold & Porter LLP, UK, 2008–2017

SJ Berwin LLP, UK, 2005–2008