Christopher M. Gandia

Kirkland & Ellis is advising investment firm Wendel on a definitive partnership agreement relating to a strategic investment, which includes the acquisition of 75% of Monroe Capital LLC, a sponsoring program of up to $800 million to accelerate Monroe Capital’s growth and a GP commitment for up to $200 million. Wendel will pay $1.13 billion at the closing. Monroe management will continue to own 25% of the company post-closing. The transaction will dramatically expand Wendel’s asset management platform and rebalance its business model towards more recurring cash flows and growth and follows Wendel’s recent acquisition of IK Partners, a European leader in middle market private equity, as it seeks to build a scaled third-party asset management platform. The transaction is subject to satisfaction of closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team included asset management M&A lawyers Christopher Gandia, Daniel Lavon-Krein, James Mayne and Christopher Simpson; corporate lawyers Valentine Bleicher, Vincent Ponsonnaille and Louis Gosset; and tax lawyers Nadine Gelli and Lee Morlock.

Oct 22

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising alternatives asset manager Castlelake L.P. on a strategic partnership with Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM, TSX: BAM) in which Brookfield is purchasing a 51% stake in Castlelake’s fee-related earnings. The amount of capital to be invested will be approximately $1.5 billion, including capital to be invested in Castlelake’s investment strategies by Brookfield Reinsurance. Castlelake will continue to operate its business independently, retaining its current governance and leadership structure and will retain majority ownership of its performance-related earnings. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2024. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team is being led by asset management M&A partners Christopher Gandia, Carlo Zenkner, James Mayne and Daniel Lavon-Krein; tax partners Mark Schwed and Joseph Tootle; investment funds partners David Sherman, Stefan Paulovic, Alpa Patel, Daniel Kahl and Samuel Weber; antitrust & competition partner Matthew Sinclair-Thompson; and financial services regulatory partners Lisa Cawley and Thomas Woodhead.

May 6

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a leading independent infrastructure fund manager, on its acquisition by BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK). The completion of the acquisition was announced October 1, 2024. The combination creates an industry leader in infrastructure across equity, debt and solutions – providing a diverse range of infrastructure sector expertise and exposure across developed and emerging markets. The combined infrastructure platform will be branded Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of BlackRock. GIP will continue to be led by Bayo Ogunlesi and the Office of the Chairman. With approximately $170 billion in AUM, the platform will field a 600-person strong global team that manages a diversified portfolio of more than 300 active investments with operations in over 100 countries. Read GIP and BlackRock's combined press release The Kirkland team was led by asset management M&A partners Daniel Lavon-Krein and Christopher Gandia; corporate partners Melissa Kalka, Andy Calder, Doug Bacon, Stephen Noh, Kate Willson and Rami Totari; capital markets partner Julian Seiguer; and tax partners Stephen Butler and Joseph Tootle.

Oct 1

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised BTIG, LLC, a financial services firm specializing in investment banking, institutional sales and trading, research and prime brokerage, on a definitive agreement to be sold to U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB). The transaction was announced January 13, 2026 and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and satisfaction of applicable closing conditions. The targeted consideration for the transaction is up to $1 billion, with a target purchase price of $725 million ($362.5 million of cash and 6,600,594 shares of common stock) to be paid at closing. There is up to an additional $275 million of cash consideration payable over three years, subject to achievement of defined performance targets. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Rachael Coffey, Christopher Gandia, Peter Martelli, Jimin He and Eli Markham; and capital markets lawyer Christian Nagler.

Jan 13

1 min