Sinead O’Shea

Kirkland & Ellis is excited to announce that leading debt finance lawyers Ian Barratt and Sinead O’Shea will join the Firm as partners in the London office. “Ian and Sinead are recognized as top-of-the-market finance lawyers with significant experience handling sophisticated financing transactions for private equity sponsors and other corporate clients,” said Jon A. Ballis, Chairman of Kirkland’s Executive Committee. “We are thrilled to have them join the team.” Mr. Barratt represents private equity firms and their portfolio companies on a range of complex domestic and cross-border acquisition financing and other leveraged finance transactions. He is widely recognized as a top finance lawyer, with Chambers UK ranking him a Band 1 leading lawyer for banking and finance and The Legal 500 UK listing him as a “Hall of Fame” lawyer for acquisition finance. Ms. O’Shea also brings deep experience across the spectrum of leveraged finance transactions and syndicated facilities, with a particular focus on infrastructure finance. She has been acknowledged as a leading lawyer for acquisition finance by The Legal 500 UK and IFLR1000’s UK Women Leaders, as well as Legal Week’s “Women, Influence & Power in Law U.K.” awards. Kirkland’s debt finance practice is recognized by Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500 and other publications for its work on complex, high-profile transactions; exceptional commercial understanding of international financing markets; and excellence in client service. With more than 300 dedicated debt finance lawyers, the team is the largest in the market and serves more than 500 private equity clients. According to Bloomberg, Debtwire and Refinitiv, Kirkland consistently handles more transactions for borrowers than any other law firm in the world and, for the last five years, has led the market in U.S. borrower transactions.

Oct 17

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising KKR on an agreement under which KKR will acquire a 25% stake in Enilive, Eni’s mobility transformation company dedicated to biorefining, biomethane production, smart mobility solutions and providing services to support people on the move. Closing of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Enilive aims to provide progressively decarbonized services and products in support of a sustainability-driven mobility transformation. Read KKR’s press release The Kirkland team includes corporate lawyers Toby Parkinson, Sara Pickersgill, Nick Appleton, Serra Tar, Claudia Carr, Melissa Sawyer and Shaun Boyle and debt finance lawyers Sinead O'Shea, James Boswell, Jia Meng, Luca Misseroni, James McGivern, Marco Convertini and Hannah McLaughlin.

Oct 24

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis represented a consortium led by KKR on the acquisition of Telecom Italia’s (TIM) fixed line network. This is a historic milestone for the Italian telecommunications sector as TIM’s fixed line network has been integrated into FiberCop, creating a wholesale network accessible to all operators in Italy providing end-to-end connectivity services nationwide. The consortium led by KKR includes the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Italian Government, ADIA, CPP Investments and infrastructure fund F2i Sgr. Read KKR and the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Alvaro Membrillera, Adam Wollstein, Pelin Demirdere Eski and Anna Van de moortel and associates Jef Dupont, Stefano Castoldi, Carmella Crinnion, Sham Khan, Bing Lim and Rika Hayashida; debt finance partners Sinead O’Shea and Jia Meng and associates Marco Convertini, Luca Misseroni and Ashley Bannister; and tax partner Joseph Tootle.

Jul 11

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is excited to announce that debt finance lawyer Vanessa Xu will join the Firm as a partner. Ms. Xu’s practice focuses on advising financial sponsors on complex cross-border leveraged finance transactions. She has been recognized by the Legal 500 UK and Legal Week, which named her in its 40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Private Equity in 2019. Previously a partner at Allen & Overy, Ms. Xu is qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales and an attorney and counsellor-at-law in New York. “Vanessa is one of the leading debt finance partners in the market,” said Stephen Lucas, member of Kirkland’s Executive Committee and finance partner. “Vanessa’s experience further strengthens our preeminent debt finance practice, and we are thrilled to welcome her to the team.” Kirkland’s debt practice is the largest and most experienced sponsor finance team in Europe, consisting of over 100 lawyers. For 2023, it was ranked #1 in the Debtwire advisor rankings for Western Europe sponsor-backed borrower transactions by deal count, by value and by market share. Ms. Xu joins other recent leading debt finance partner hires in Kirkland’s London office, including Ian Barratt and Sinead O’Shea, who joined in October 2023, and Marwa Elborai, who joins this month.

Apr 7

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis is advising KKR on the financing for its voluntary public takeover offer to all shareholders of Encavis, a leading German wind and solar park operator. The family company Viessmann will invest as co-investor in a KKR-led consortium. The offer is a cash consideration of €17.50 per Encavis share and signed binding agreements with Abacon Capital and several existing shareholders, representing approximately 31% of the total share capital. The existing shareholders will remain indirect long-term investors in Encavis. The offer will be subject to various offer conditions, including the receipt of official approvals regarding foreign investment clearances, merger clearances and holder control proceedings, with closing expected in Q4 2024. Read Encavis' press release The Kirkland team is led by debt finance partners Sinead O'Shea, Jerome Hoyle and Alexander Längsfeld and associates Benjamin Lewis, Cristina Poon and Sebastian Trompler.

Mar 14

1 min