James King

Kirkland & Ellis has advised Oakley Capital Fund III on the extension of Oakley’s investment in IU Group through the sale to a continuation vehicle alongside Oakley Capital Fund V. The continuation fund was oversubscribed and is backed by investors including TPG GP Solutions, HarbourVest Partners, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Glendower Capital and Pantheon. With over 100,000 students enrolled, IU Group is Germany’s largest private university group. It provides a well-diversified mix of online degree courses, part-time studies and on-campus learning. IU is a pioneer in delivering high-quality education, leveraging technology and innovation to meet the changing needs of students. Read Oakley Capital’s press release The Kirkland team advising Oakley was led by transactional partners Ben Leyendecker and Christoph Jerger and included investment funds partners Ted Cardos and James King, transactional partner Philip Goj, tax partner Michael Ehret and debt finance partner Alexander Längsfeld, as well as transactional associates Greta-Josefin Harnisch, Tamara Zehentbauer, Lukas Fellhölter, Juliane Hubert, Julia Jung, debt finance associate Barbara Dunkel and investment funds associate Toby Karenowski.

May 25

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis represented Synova, a leading European mid-market investor, on Bonaccord Capital Partners’ passive minority investment in Synova to support its future growth. Bonaccord, a subsidiary of P10, Inc. [NYSE: PX], is a private equity platform dedicated to acquiring non-control equity interests in leading mid-market private markets sponsors. Synova is recognized as one of Europe’s most innovative growth investors, focused within the software and data, health, tech-enabled services and financial services sectors. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners Christopher Gandia, James King, Daniel Lavon-Krein and Jordan Murray and associate Christopher Simpson.

Jun 22

1 min

Paul, Weiss is advising General Atlantic in its minority investment in Bridgepoint’s portfolio company Kyriba, a global leader in liquidity performance that empowers CFOs, treasurers and IT leaders to connect, protect, forecast and optimize their liquidity. The transaction values Kyriba at over $3 billion and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Paul, Weiss team is led by corporate partners Matthew Abbott, Will Aitken-Davies and Rohan Dey, and includes partners Cullen Sinclair, James King, Neel Sachdev and Kanesh Balasubramaniam and counsel Caitlin Kelly; intellectual property partner John Patten and counsel Alex Zapalowski; litigation partners Nicole Succar and John Carlin; tax partners Lindsay Parks and Timothy Lowe and counsel Caroline Inker and Mashiho Yuasa; antitrust partners Annie Herdman and Nicole Kar and counsel Yuni Sobel and Lauren O'Brien; and executive compensation partner Jarrett Hoffman and counsel Bruce Goldberger.

Oct 16

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised IK Partners, a leading European private equity firm, with teams across Northern Europe focusing on the mid-market segment, on the sale of a controlling interest in the firm to Wendel, one of Europe’s leading listed investment firms. Read IK Partners’ press release The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners James King, Jeremy Leggate and Daniel Lavon-Krien and corporate partners Adrian Duncan, Gregory Scott and Ben Hai, and included corporate partners Vincent Ponsonnaille and Emmanuel Enrici; investment funds partner David Pritchett and associates Toby Karenowski, Hannah Wilson and Tejaswini Krishnaprasad; corporate associates Julian Holland and Adam Diouri; tax partner Nadine Gelli and associate Krishan Patel; antitrust & competition partner Mark Gardner; and regulatory partner Julian Hui and associate Kate McDermott.

Oct 30

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised PAI Partners, a private equity firm headquartered in France, in a strategic minority investment in its business by Dyal Capital, a division of Blue Owl Capital Inc. Read PAI’s press release The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners Richard Watkins, James King and Raphaël Bloch and associates Toby Karenowski, Christopher Simpson, Courtenay Stock, Rajiv Chandrasena, Luke Redstone and Benjamin Bignier; tax partners Nadine Gelli, Jonathan Kandel, Rob Sharpe, Lee Morlock and Christopher Odell and associate Louise Chappey; and corporate partner Laurent Victor-Michel and associates François Capoul and Lucy Bower.

Jan 19

1 min