Carli Childers

Jennifer Gasser A month after launching a new Houston office, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP expanded the location with the addition of a corporate attorney who moved her practice from Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Jennifer Gasser has been welcomed this week to Paul Weiss as a partner in the M&A group in the corporate department at the Houston office, the firm announced Tuesday. Gasser said in a prepared statement she has "long been impressed" by Paul Weiss' M&A platform. "I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues and expanding the firm's leading capabilities within Houston, a hotbed of activity for energy and infrastructure," Gasser said. The Houston office opened at the beginning of February when former Kirkland attorneys Sean T. Wheeler and Debbie P. Yee joined Paul Weiss. Wheeler leads the Houston location, with Yee joining as a partner in the M&A group. "Jennifer is a highly skilled M&A lawyer specializing in energy and infrastructure," Wheeler said in a prepared statement. "Her proven track record advising clients in these spaces on their most important transactions makes her an invaluable addition to our growing Houston team." Gasser's practice counsels clients, primarily in the energy and infrastructure industries, on matters related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures, according to the firm's announcement. Her notable transactions over the past several years include assisting EQT Corp. with forming a $3.5 billion joint venture with Blackstone Credit & Insurance and with EQT's $35 billion merger with Equitrans Midstream Corporation. "Jennifer's arrival marks another key step in the continued buildout of our Houston team, and we are excited to welcome her to the firm," Scott A. Barshay, chairman of Paul Weiss, said in a prepared statement. Gasser earned her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 2015.

Mar 3

2 min

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison has added a third Kirkland & Ellis M&A partner to its new office in Houston, a market experiencing heavy interest and hiring from Big Law firms this year. Kirkland partner Jennifer Gasser joined Paul Weiss on Tuesday as a partner in the M&A group within the corporate department. Her practice focuses on M&A, divestitures and joint ventures in the energy and infrastructure sectors. In early February, Paul Weiss announced its move into Houston and the hiring of Kirkland M&A partner Sean Wheeler, who will serve as co-chair of global M&A and head of the Houston office, and Wheeler's longtime colleague, Kirkland M&A partner Debbie Yee. “Jennifer’s arrival marks another key step in the continued buildout of our Houston team, and we are excited to welcome her to the firm,” Paul Weiss chairman Scott Barshay wrote in a press release. Wheeler wrote that Gasser's "proven track record" advising clients in energy and infrastructure on important transactions makes her an "invaluable addition" to the team in Houston. “Jennifer is a highly skilled M&A lawyer," he wrote. Gasser could not immediately be reached for a comment on her move. In a press release, she wrote that she has been impressed for a long time by the caliber of work her new firm handles. “I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues and expanding the firm’s leading capabilities within Houston, a hotbed of activity for energy and infrastructure,” she wrote. According to Paul Weiss, Gasser has recently represented EQT Corp. in multiple transactions, including a midstream joint venture with Blackstone Credit & Insurance and a merger with Equitrans Midstream Corp.; Sandbrook Capital in its acquisition of Bernhard Capital Partners’ equity interests in United Utility Services and Electro Rent Corp.’s equity interests in Intellirent; Cloverleaf Infrastructure in its sale of powered land to Vantage Data Centers for development of a data center campus; Celanese in the divestment of its Micromax portfolio of products to Element Solutions,; and ONEOK, Inc. in its acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners’ equity interests in Medallion Midstream. A spokesperson for Kirkland provided this comment on Gasser's departure: “We wish Jennifer well in her new role.”

Mar 3

2 min

AES Corp., guided by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, said Monday that it has agreed to be acquired by a consortium of infrastructure investors led by Blackrock's Global Infrastructure Partners and EQT Infrastructure VI in a deal with a $10.7 billion equity value and a $33.4 billion enterprise value. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is advising the energy company on certain debt matters. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is advising the consortium and is the legal adviser to GIP. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is advising EQT. Under the agreement, the consortium — which also includes co-underwriters California Public Employees' Retirement System and Qatar Investment Authority — will pay $15 per share in cash for AES, representing a 40% premium to the company's unaffected 30-day average share price before July 8, 2025. The stock was down about 17% Monday, trading around $14.30 per share. AES, which operates regulated electric utilities in Indiana and Ohio as well as competitive clean energy and critical infrastructure assets in Latin America, said in Monday's announcement that the deal will provide the company with greater financial flexibility to invest in growth initiatives and energy infrastructure. The company also noted that its regulated U.S. utilities would remain locally managed, with no expected impact on customer rates. "Following a rigorous review of strategic options, the AES board determined that this transaction with the consortium maximizes value for stockholders and provides compelling cash value," AES Chair Jay Morse said in the announcement. Executives with the consortium highlighted the group's experience in energy infrastructure investing, emphasizing that AES is well positioned to meet growing electricity demand, particularly in the United States. In the announcement, Bayo Ogunlesi, chair and CEO of GIP, highlighted increasing market demand for "affordable, safe and reliable power," while EQT Infrastructure's Masoud Homayoun emphasized the transaction's role in supporting the "growth and modernization of essential energy infrastructure that underpins energy security, electrification, digitalization and resilient power systems." The transaction has received unanimous approval from AES' board and is expected to close in late 2026 or early 2027, subject to customary regulatory approvals and shareholder consent. After the acquisition, AES common stock will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, led by partners Philip Richter and Roy Tannenbaum, is advising J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Wells Fargo Securities LLC, the financial advisers to AES. Paul Hastings LLP, led by partner Morgan Bale, is advising Goldman Sachs and Citi on committed financing. The Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP team is led by partners Pankaj Sinha and Katherine (Kady) Ashley. The Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP team is led by partners Robert Langdon, Fred De Albuquerque, Javad Asghari and Julie Siegel. The Kirkland & Ellis LLP team is led by partners Melissa Kalka, Zach Savrick, Andy Calder, Nick Lewis, Jimmy Chalk and Adam Larson. Deal team information for Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP was not immediately available.

Mar 2

2 min

Kirkland & Ellis represented Braemont Capital, a relationship-driven investment firm that partners with entrepreneurs, family business owners and management teams to capitalize on key growth catalysts, on its investment in VFN Holdings, Inc. (Vero Networks), a fiber infrastructure business and broadband internet provider. The combined $500 million investment was made in partnership with Hamilton Lane (Nasdaq: HLNE) and Delta-v Capital. The investment supports Vero Networks’ next phase of growth, accelerating the expansion of its fiber-to-the-premise and wholesale fiber networks, as well as continuing strategic M&A across new and existing U.S. markets. Read Braemont’s press release The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Thomas Laughlin, Jessica Berkowitz and Nicole Faria; tax lawyers David Wheat, Stephen Butler, Grant Newman and Griffin Peeples; and investment funds lawyers Matt Nadworny, Nathan Wolcott, Reem Ahmed and Allie Varra.

Feb 25

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis represented Alterra IOS, a leading owner and manager in the industrial outdoor storage (IOS) sector, on its strategic minority investment from Almanac, the private real estate arm of Neuberger. The investment will support Alterra’s rapidly growing IOS platform, further institutionalizing the industrial outdoor storage asset class. Read Alterra’s press release The Kirkland team included investment funds lawyers Pete Vaglio and Josh Morgan; corporate lawyer Brittany Scheier; and tax lawyer Stephen Butler.

Feb 27

1 min