Amanda C. Border, P.C.

Kirkland & Ellis advised private equity and credit firm Abry Partners on the closing of a $1.6 billion GP-led transaction to create a continuation vehicle for Abry Advanced Securities Fund III. The transaction was announced August 29, 2024. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners Mark Boyagi, Adam Aramati, Garrett Lorentz and David Sherman and associates Davi Sacco and Kasondra West; corporate partners Dan Vaczy and Amanda Border; derivatives partner Scott Gordon; tax partners Alec Campbell and Brandon Short; and debt finance partners Jocelyn Hirsch, Ashley Gregory and Leonard Kim.

Aug 30

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised private equity firm Abry Partners and portfolio company Innovisk on the sale of the portfolio of MGAs to international specialty insurance services firm Ryan Specialty. Private equity firm BHMS also sold its stake in the company to Ryan. London-headquartered Innovisk consists of a diverse, non-correlated portfolio of seven highly regarded specialty MGAs with lines of business include environmental, transactional liability, U.S. and international financial lines, professional liability for lawyers, commercial auto liability, and UK professional indemnity and P&C. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Amanda Border, Armand Della Monica and Dan Vaczy and tax lawyer Vin Thorn.

Nov 5

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised private equity and credit firm ABRY Partners in the sale of a majority stake in Blue Mantis to Recognize, a private equity firm focused on investing in technology services businesses with a thematic and operationally-oriented strategy. Blue Mantis is a premier IT services provider with deep expertise in managed services, cybersecurity and cloud solutions. ABRY Partners, which has backed Blue Mantis since 2020, will continue as a minority investor in the company. The transaction was announced September 9, 2024. Read the transactions press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partner Amanda Border and tax partner Vincent Thorn, with support from corporate partner Armand Della Monica.

Sep 10

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised software private equity firm Clearhaven Partners on the acquisition of Zixi, the provider of the Software-Defined Video Platform (SDVP). The transaction was announced June 13, 2024. Financial terms were not disclosed. SDVP enables reliable broadcast-quality video delivery over any IP network, any protocol, any cloud provider and any edge device. Read Clearhaven’s press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partner Amanda Border and associates Zoe Quick, Mickal Haile and Jeff Dary; with assistance from corporate partner Christian Atwood; debt finance partner Ashley Gregory and associates Charles Kilgore and Carly Bishop; and tax partners Vin Thorn and Brandon Short.

Jun 13

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Golub Capital LLC, a market-leading direct lender and experienced private credit manager, on a strategic partnership with Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. As part of the agreement, Mizuho has purchased a passive, non-voting minority stake in Golub Capital’s management companies, and Mizuho will serve as a strategic distribution partner for Golub Capital in Japan, including being the exclusive distributor of Golub Capital’s investment products to retail and high net worth investors in the country. Golub Capital plans to use the proceeds from Mizuho’s investment to further enhance its ability to deliver distinctive, compelling and reliable financing solutions to private equity sponsors. All proceeds from the transaction will remain invested in Golub Capital. This announcement marks the first time Mizuho has taken a direct stake in a U.S.-based private credit asset manager. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Amanda Border and Rami Totari and investment funds partner Martín Strauch.

Oct 1

1 min