Grace Nielsen

Kirkland & Ellis is advising Starwood Capital Group (Starwood Capital), a leading global private investment firm focused on real estate, on its strategic investment in Echelon Data Centres (Echelon), one of the leading data centre developers in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The transaction will see Starwood Capital commit approximately $850 million through Starwood Opportunity Fund XII and Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, Inc, becoming a 50% shareholder in Echelon and providing material capital for its continued growth. The investment values Echelon at approximately €2.5 billion enterprise value. Read Starwood Capital’s press release The Kirkland team is led by corporate partners Dipak Bhundia, Matthew Elliott, Andrew McAlpine and Emma Shelston and associates Jelani Okoruwa, Ben Zelouf and Shaun Boyle; debt finance partners Lloyd Robertson-Jones, Daniel Borg and James Collins and associates Benjamin Lewis and Oliver Clayson; tax partners Katherine Durkacz and Ed Moberly and associates Grace Nielsen and Alexandria Solomou; investment funds partner Paul Sampson; and real estate partner Jonathan Schechter.

Feb 20

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Ichthys Energy Partners, LLC on the closing of an equity commitment from investment funds managed by Post Oak Energy Capital, L.P. Ichthys seeks to execute its growth strategy through a targeted ground game focused on operated and non-operated leasehold acquisitions and strategic partnerships across the Permian. Based in Dallas, Ichthys is a newly formed exploration and production company focused on aggregating and responsibly developing operated inventory in the Permian Basin. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Stephen Noh and Jack Chadderdon; executive compensation partners Katherine Nemeth and Stephen Jacobson; tax partner Bill Dong and associate Grace Nielsen; and employment & labor partner Christie Alcala.

Oct 3

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised private equity firm Gamut Capital Management, L.P. on a definitive agreement to acquire Airtron Heating & Air Conditioning, a leading designer, installer and maintenance provider for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, from NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG). The acquisition was announced August 8, 2024. Airtron was acquired by NRG as part of its acquisition of Direct Energy in 2021. Financial terms were not disclosed. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Constantine Skarvelis, Peter Martelli and Steven Choi; debt finance partners Yuli Wang and Melissa Hutson; and tax partner Mark Schwed with assistance from corporate associates Seung Bo Choi, Sandra Lewitz and Jay Gao; technology & IP transactions partners Joanna Schlingbaum and Shellie Freedman and associate Dan Sotos; debt finance associates Raghav Gupta and Brian Caldwell; tax partner Steven Ort and associate Grace Nielsen; executive compensation partners Anthony Ji and Michael Krasnovsky and associate Devin Kern; and employee benefits of counsel Jack Bernstein and associate Mackenzie Packard.

Aug 8

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Luminate Capital Partners, a private equity firm investing in growth software companies, on its investment in AbsenceSoft, the leading SaaS platform for leave of absence and accommodations management. Luminate's investment will help AbsenceSoft continue its growth trajectory and expand its leadership position in the market. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Rodin Hai-Jew and Javier Oliver-Keymorth and associates Lauren Iwasaki and Jane Guo; tax partner Devin Heckman and associates Nithya Sheshadri and Grace Nielsen; debt finance partners Nisha Kanchanapoomi and Caitlin Bouey and associate Shelby Lindholm; technology & IP transactions partner Vlad Khodosh and associate Malia Taqbeem; executive compensation partner Jack Stratton and associate Deena Muzafar; employee benefits of counsel Jack Bernstein and associate Mackenzie Packard; employment & labor partner Jackie Heffernan and associate Maayan Sachs; international trade & national security partner Mario Mancuso and associates Billy Phalen and Brandon Ricaurte; real estate partner Roberto Miceli and associate Bob McAuliff; environmental transactions partner Paul Tanaka and associate Omar Khodor; and antitrust & competition partners Matthew Wheatley and Mark Gardner and associates Mackenzie Pike and Alexandre Rouhette.

Sep 17

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising Virgin Music Group, the global independent music division of Universal Music Group, on the proposed acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings LLC for cash consideration of $775 million (approximately €737 million). A definitive agreement was announced December 16, 2024. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals. Downtown’s portfolio of businesses includes FUGA, Downtown Artist & Label Services, Curve Royalties, CD Baby, Downtown Music Publishing and Songtrust. Downtown collectively serves over 5,000 business clients and more than four million creators in 145 countries, and its clients were recently recognized with nearly 150 nominations for the upcoming 2025 GRAMMYs. Virgin Music Group and Downtown will offer a broadened and enhanced suite of services to clients, including digital & physical distribution; release marketing; business intelligence; neighboring rights; synchronization; royalties and rights management. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Pete Martelli, Jimin He and Isilay Piskin; music/IP transactions lawyers Seth Traxler and Shellie Freedman; and tax lawyers Sara Zablotney and Grace Nielsen.

Dec 16

1 min