Amala Ejikeme

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 private equity firm EQT on the final close of the EQT Future Fund, which included €3 billion ($3.3 billion) in total fund commitments. The fee-generating commitment to the strategy, which includes co-investments, totals €3.6 billion ($3.9 billion). The EQT Future Fund invests in two themes: climate & nature and health & wellbeing. The close was announced March 5, 2024. This brings the combined final closes by the EQT Private Equity platform in 2024 to more than €25 billion ($27 billion) in total commitments. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners Erica Berthou and Amala Ejikeme.

Mar 6

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Inflexion on the formation of Inflexion Buyout Fund VI, which recently held its final closing at its £2.5 billion hard cap. The fund, which successfully raised more than double the prior fund, reflects investors’ conviction in Inflexion’s ability to continue its successful track record of addressing the growing private equity market opportunity in the UK and Europe. Buyout Fund VI will focus on companies in the UK and Europe with an enterprise value of up to £1 billion across the core sectors of Business Services, Technology, Healthcare, Industrials, Consumer and Financial Services and will be complemented by Inflexion’s existing family of funds (including Partnership Capital, its dedicated minority investment fund, and Enterprise Fund, its lower mid-market buyout fund). Read the Inflexion Private Equity press release The Kirkland team was led by investment funds partners Amala Ejikeme and Richard Watkins and included investment funds partner Agne (AJ) Eriksson and associates Oliver Cutbill, Ediz Osman, Alexander Clarke, Hannah Wilson and Sonam Shah. The team also included tax partners Ian Ferreira, Lee K. Morlock and Michael J. Milazzo and associates Loviisa Langdon, Ted Meddick-Dyson, Frankie Beetham and Grant Michael Newman, financial services regulatory partners Prem Mohan and Joshua Westerholm and associates Arnold Krutilins and Tim Nolan, and debt finance partner Susannah Amini.

Mar 2

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Nextech, a global, cancer therapeutics-focused venture capital firm, in connection with a definitive agreement between its portfolio company, Silverback Therapeutics, Inc. (Silverback), and ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARS), under which ARS will merge with Silverback in an all-stock transaction. The combined company will focus on the potential regulatory approval and commercialization of neffy, ARS’s investigational epinephrine nasal spray for the treatment of Type I allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. The combined company is expected to have approximately $265 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at closing. Upon stockholder approval, the combined company is expected to operate under the name ARS Pharmaceuticals and trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol “SPRY.” The merger is currently expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022. Read the joint press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Dan Vaczy and Christian Atwood, tax partner Vincent Thorn, and investment funds partner Amala Ejikeme and associate Anna Alexandrou.

Jul 21

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Triton Partners on completing the sale of a portfolio of four companies, Assemblin, EQOS, Flokk and Unica, to a newly-formed vehicle, Triton IV Continuation Fund, which closed at €1.63 billion following a competitive auction process. Read Triton’s press release The team was led by investment funds partners Ted Cardos, Tarsis Goncalves, Amala Ejikeme and Agne Eriksson, and associates Fraser Burlingham, Joanne Mak, Richard Hughes, Kahwing Fung, Alex Clarke and Natalie Healy; and corporate partners Roger Johnson, Andreas Philipson and Niklas Ahlklo and associate Jonas Goransson.

May 4

1 min