Richard Watkins

Kirkland & Ellis advised European private equity firm Apheon on the successful closing of a new continuation fund, Apheon TMC HDC Long Term Value Fund SCSp. The continuation fund will acquire interests in TMC, a Dutch technical and R&D consulting firm, and Haudecoeur, a French ethnic food company, from Apheon MidCap Buyout IV SCSp alongside third-party minority investments made by funds managed or advised by MML Capital, with respect to TMC, and LFPI, with respect to Haudecoeur. The continuation fund closed on €435 million of aggregate capital commitments, and will provide an extended investment horizon and additional capital to continue building both platforms and support a new phase of growth. Funds managed or advised by HarbourVest Partners lead the continuation fund. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals. The Kirkland team included investment funds lawyers Richard Watkins, Ted Cardos, Tarsis Goncalves, Amrit Sagoo, Luke Scott, Kahwing Fung and David Melvin; and tax lawyers Gal Shemer and Beatriz Capeloa Gil.

Dec 4

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised KLAR Partners Ltd on its final close of KLAR Partners II (Fund II), which has secured total capital commitments of €870 million. KLAR Partners will continue to make control investments of €75-200 million+ in mid-market mission-critical services and industrial technology businesses, primarily across the Nordic, DACH and Benelux regions. Read KLAR Partners’ press release The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners Dave Pritchett, Jeremy Leggate and Richard Watkins and associates Ryan Mason and Fraser Gowan; and tax partners Art Ward and Gal Shemer and associates Kunal Nathwani and Beatriz Capeloa Gil.

Jun 27

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising Clearlake Capital Group on its acquisition of MV Credit, a pan-European private credit specialist, from Natixis Investment Managers, a global multi-strategy asset manager. Read Clearlake Capital’s press release The Kirkland team is led by asset management M&A partners Adrian Duncan and Michael Reeves; investment funds partners Aisling Campbell and Richard Watkins; financial services regulatory partners Ramya Juwadi and Thomas Woodhead; tax partners Anthony Antioch, Michael Alcan and Anne Kim; technology & IP transactions partner Max Harris; and corporate associates Jamie Gordon, Julian Holland and Callum Alder.

Sep 3

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Inflexion on the formation of Inflexion Enterprise Fund VI, which recently held its final closing at its £975 million hard cap. The fund was raised in less than five months and follows its successful £400 million predecessor fund. Focused on the lower mid-market, the fund follows the same successful strategy employed by Inflexion for over 25 years, backing high growth, entrepreneurial businesses with ambitious management teams and working in partnership with them to accelerate growth. Enterprise Fund VI was raised almost exclusively from Inflexion’s existing investor base of blue-chip institutions from across U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East, with investors on average more than doubling their commitment versus the previous vintage. Read Inflexion’s press release The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners Amala Ejikeme and Richard Watkins and included associates Oliver Cutbill, Hannah Wilson, Alfie Ashton, Chanel Yusuf-Bishop and Rianna Gohil. The team also included tax partners Alexander Cox, Ian Ferreira, Lee Morlock, Loviisa Langdon and Gal Shemer and associates Ted Meddick-Dyson, Rhianna Voice and Grant Newman; investment funds partner Joshua Westerholm and associate Peter Gauss; financial services regulatory partner Prem Mohan and associate Christopher Hsu; and debt finance partners Susannah Amini and George Dyesmith.

Sep 10

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Bowmark Capital, a UK mid-market private equity firm, on the formation of its latest flagship fund, Bowmark Capital Partners VII. The fund was closed at its hard cap with aggregate capital commitments of £900 million, approximately 50% larger than its predecessor. The fund attracted significant demand in excess of capacity, enjoyed a re-up rate of over 100% and held a final close just three months after its first close. The fund will continue Bowmark’s strategy of active investment in high-quality, high-growth businesses in four core areas of the technology sector: data and insight, managed IT services, software and technology-enabled business services. Read Bowmark Capital’s press release The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners Lorenza Prelz, Jeremy Leggate and Richard Watkins and associates Benjamin Bignier and Fraser Gowan; tax partners Art Ward and Gal Shemer and associates Callum McKinnon and Beatriz Gil; financial services regulatory partners Reva Raghavan and Timothy Nolan; and ESG & impact partner Daniel D’Ambrosio.

Jan 18

1 min