James Hunn

Kirkland & Ellis advised a next generation media company backed by Kevin Mayer, Tom Staggs and Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, on the acquisition of Moonbug Entertainment Ltd., the digital-first, global children’s entertainment company. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read the transaction press release The matter involved a multijurisdictional Kirkland team with the U.S. team led by corporate partner Lauren Colasacco and associate Paige Lager, and the U.K. team led by corporate partners Gregory Scott and James Hunn and associate Ryan Kabat. The team also included U.S. corporate partner Peter Martelli and U.K. corporate partner David Higgins.

Nov 4

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising GIC on a circa $15 billion joint venture (JV) with Equinix, Inc. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) to capitalise, acquire and develop a U.S. centric digital infrastructure platform. Driven by increasing artificial intelligence and cloud growth, the JV is intended to accelerate the Equinix xScale data center portfolio by purchasing land to build new state-of-the-art xScale facilities on multiple greater-than-100-megawatt campuses in the U.S., eventually adding more than 1.5 gigawatts of new capacity for hyperscale customers. Under the terms of the agreement, CPP Investments and GIC will each control a 37.5% equity interest in the JV, and Equinix will own a 25% equity interest. The closing of the JV is subject to the receipt of required regulatory approvals, which are expected to be received in the fourth quarter of 2024. Read GIC’s press release The Kirkland team is led by corporate lawyers Celyn Evans, Miroslav Tomo, Matthew Elliott, James Hunn, Shaun Chung and Isabel Lee; real estate lawyers Christopher Hartmann, Samuel Zaretsky and Brandon Hemans; and tax lawyers Justin Barbosa, Mike Beinus and Callum Burnett.

Oct 4

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising GIC, a global institutional investor, on its capital investment in Hotel Investment Partners (HIP), a leading owner of resort hotels in Southern Europe. GIC will become an approximately 35% shareholder, with funds managed by Blackstone continuing to be a majority shareholder in HIP, with approximately 65% ownership of the company. Read GIC’s Press Release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Celyn Evans and Matthew Elliott. The team included corporate partners James Hunn, Hamesh Khatkar and Claire Rushton and associates Jamie Gordon, Oliver Newling, Claudia Carr and Talodabioluwa Olu-Odugbemi; debt finance partners Kazik Michalski and Yasmin Smedley and associate Sara Topa; tax partners Mavnick Nerwal and Frixos Hatjantonas and associate Michael Akpomiemie; and technology & IP transactions partner Joanna Thomson.

Nov 2

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised private investment firm Arctos Partners and the management team of Hayfin in connection with Arctos’ majority investment in Hayfin, which is a leading alternative asset management firm with approximately €31 billion in assets under management. A fund managed by Arctos Partners is acquiring British Columbia Investment Management Corporation’s (BCI) majority stake in Hayfin. Financial terms were not disclosed. Arctos, via its Keystone strategy, which provides strategic partnership to leading financial sponsors, through bespoke growth capital and liquidity solutions, will facilitate the Hayfin team becoming the majority owners of the common equity. BCI will remain a strategic limited partner in certain Hayfin funds. The Kirkland team advising the Hayfin management team have advised them from the outset on a new strategic transaction and delivering the right partner for the next growth phase of the business in line with the goals of the Hayfin leadership team. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team advising Arctos was led by corporate partners Jonathan Benloulou, Carlos Gil Rivas and James Hunn and tax partner Ian Ferreira. The Kirkland team advising the Hayfin management team was led by investment funds and corporate partners Daniel Lavon-Krein, Adrian Duncan and Chris Gandia; and corporate partner Rami Totari and associate Charles Hébert.

Jul 29

1 min

Kirkland is advising a Sovereign Wealth Fund on the acquisition of a pan-European logistics portfolio for over €3 billion from EQT Exeter. One of the largest European industrial real estate transactions ever, the portfolio consists of 132 high-quality, modern logistics properties totalling 2.2 million square metres, assembled through 102 transactions. The team was led by corporate partners Celyn Evans, Matthew Elliott and James Hunn, tax partners Tim Lowe and Cian O'Connor, debt finance partners Jonathan Birks and Kazik Michalski, investment funds partners Ted Cardos and Társis Gonçalves and technology & IP transactions partner Jenny Wilson.

Jan 14

1 min