Ari Levi

Kirkland & Ellis advised Vista Equity Partners and its portfolio company Playlist, the newly launched parent brand of Mindbody, Booker and ClassPass, on a definitive agreement to merge with EGYM, a global innovation leader in smart fitness technology, AI-enabled workout programming and corporate wellness solutions. The transaction values the combined enterprise at $7.5 billion and includes $785 million in new equity investments. The transaction was announced on January 15, 2026. Closing of this transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Stuart E. Casillas, Ari Levi, Fareed Karbassyoon, Andrew Liu, Leo Robles-Rodriguez, Jennifer Leserman, Sebastian Pitz and Jan Ditrich; debt finance lawyers Sonali Jindal, Douglas Tedeschi and Matthew Taylor Demopoulos; capital markets lawyer Robert Goedert; and antitrust & competition lawyer Stephen Mohr.

Jan 16

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis counseled Energize Capital, a leading investor in climate solutions, on its lead Series B funding in Elum Energy, a leading provider of advanced energy management solutions for renewable energy systems. This investment will support the company's ambitious growth plans to address the booming global renewable market, including a U.S. launch, as well as product evolution within the energy storage and electric vehicle integration categories. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Ari Levi and Vincent Ponsonnaille and associate Lucy Bower; and investment funds partner Jon Lipnick.

Sep 23

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised education company EAB on its acquisition of Hybrid, a UK-based leader in digital marketing for higher education, from private equity investor LDC. Read EAB’s press release The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Stuart Boyd, Jamie Gordon, Ari Levi, Adam Diouri, Saniya Sidhu, Joaquim Gomes, Benjamin Jain and Siddharth Rai; tax lawyers Caroline Inker, Mavnick Nerwal and Bryan Leighton; debt finance lawyer Lloyd Robertson-Jones; technology & IP transactions lawyers Daisy Darvall, Emma Flett, Joanna Thomson and Shareen Dhillon; and employment & labor lawyer Colleen Mayer.

Jan 20

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising Vista Equity Partners on the $8.4 billion acquisition of workplace collaboration software maker Smartsheet, which was announced September 24, 2024. Funds managed by Vista and Blackstone agreed to purchase the company in an all-cash transaction. Under terms of the agreement, the buyers would acquire all the outstanding shares held by Smartsheet's shareholders for $56.50 per share in cash, which represents a premium of approximately 41% to the volume weighted average closing price of Smartsheet's stock for the 90 trading days ending on July 17, 2024, the last full trading day prior to media reports regarding a possible sale transaction. The transaction is currently expected to close in the fourth quarter of Smartsheet’s fiscal year ending January 31, 2025, subject to the approval of Smartsheet’s shareholders, the satisfaction of required regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Jonathan Davis, Ari Levi, Andrew Norwich and Stuart Casillas and associates John Sheridan, Hayley Gilbert and Mark Keohane; debt finance partners Sonali Jindal and Austin Glassman and associate Jae Ha; capital markets partner Bob Goedert; executive compensation partners Rohit Nafday and Katherine Nemeth; tax partners David Kung and Heidi Yuen; technology & IP transactions partners John Lynn and Daisy Darvall; and antitrust & competition partners Marin Boney and Mark Gardner.

Sep 24

1 min