Cathy A. Birkeland

Latham & Watkins represented Hyatt Hotels Corporation, the global hospitality company, in a public offering of senior notes issued to refinance all of Hyatt’s 1.800% notes due 2024 and for general corporate purposes. The upsized, two-part offering consisted of US$450 million of five-year notes, which achieved a coupon of 5.250%, and US$350 million of 10-year notes, which achieved a coupon of 5.50%. The notes were rated Baa3 by Moody’s and BBB- by S&P Global and by Fitch. Latham’s interdisciplinary team, including members of its market-leading Capital Markets Practice and its Hospitality, Gaming & Leisure Industry Group, advised Hyatt in the financings, and was led by partners Roderick Branch, Cathy Birkeland, and Michael Pucker, with associates Andrew Rutsky, Chelsea Carlson, and Julia Gabriel. Partners Diana Doyle and Rene De Vera, with associate Jay Khurana, advised on tax matters, and partner Larry Seymour advised on benefits and compensation matters.~~

Jun 11

1 min

Latham & Watkins represented Hyatt Hotels Corporation, the global hospitality company, in a public bond offering of an aggregate of US$600 million of 5.750% unsecured senior notes due 2027. Hyatt intends to use the proceeds from the offering to repay all of Hyatt’s 1.300% notes due 2023 at or prior to maturity and for general corporate purposes. The notes were rated Baa3 by Moody’s and BBB- by S&P Global and by Fitch. Latham corporate partners Michael Pucker, Roderick Branch, and Cathy Birkeland led the Latham team, with counsel Manasi Bhattacharyya and associates Andrew Rutsky, Chelsea Carlson, Cyerra McGowan, and Matthew Galligan. Advice was also provided on tax matters by partners Diana Doyle and Rene De Vera, with associate Christopher Ohlgart.~~

Jul 7

1 min

On December 8, 2023, Vivid Seats Inc. (NASDAQ: SEAT), a leading marketplace that utilizes its technology platform to connect millions of buyers with thousands of ticket sellers across hundreds of thousands of events each year, announced the pricing of a secondary underwritten public offering of 18,500,000 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock by Hoya Topco, LLC (the selling stockholder) at a price to the public of US$6.50 per share. The Company also announced that it has agreed to purchase an incremental 2,000,000 shares of Class A common stock from the underwriters in the offering at a per-share purchase price equal to the price to the public, less underwriting discounts and commissions, bringing the total offering size to 20,500,000 shares. All of the shares in the offering will be sold by the selling stockholder. The offering is expected to close on December 12, 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The Company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares by the selling stockholder. Latham & Watkins LLP represents Vivid Seats and the selling stockholder in the offering with a capital markets team led by Chicago partners Cathy Birkeland and Scott Westhoff, with associates Greer Gaddie, Byron Patton, Chelsea Carlson, and Molly Nelson. Advice was also provided on general corporate matters by Chicago partners Brad Faris and Owen Alexander and New York counsel Andra Troy, and on tax matters by Chicago partner Rene de Vera, with associate Michael Zucker.~~

Dec 12

1 min

Tegus, a Chicago-based research platform for investors, has announced it will acquire Canalyst, creating a new industry standard for modern research. Vancouver-based Canalyst offers more than 4,000 fully drivable financial models and company benchmarking data, with every key performance indicator and comparison that matters for making business-critical decisions. Latham & Watkins LLP represents Tegus in the acquisition with a corporate deal team Chicago partners Daniel Breslin and Cathy Birkeland, and Austin partner Jen Smith, with Chicago associates Jana Kovich, Edward Brennan, Dalton Powell, Autumn Schmidt, Omar Ammash, and Erica Kucharski. Advice was also provided on finance matters by Bay Area partner Haim Zaltzman and Houston partner Pamela Kellet, with Washington, D.C. associates Jennifer Kent, Fitsum Tilahun, and Patrick Loeffler and Austin associate Erin Cusenbary; on tax matters by Chicago partner Rene de Vera, with Chicago associate Gharrett Favinger; on benefits and compensation matters by Bay Area partner Ashley Wagner, with Bay Area associate Niveda Anandan; on intellectual property matters by Orange County counsel David Kuiper, with Bay Area associate Amy Tosi and Los Angeles associate Nick Goshgarian; on data privacy matters by Bay Area partner Robert Blamires, with Bay Area associate Jennifer Howes and Boston associate Kiara Vaughn; on regulatory and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters by Chicago partner Meredith Monroe, with Chicago associate John Doyle; on antitrust matters by Bay Area partner Kelly Smith Fayne, with New York associate Frances Chapman; and on sanctions matters by Washington, D.C. counsel Andrew Galdes.~~

Aug 2

1 min

Vivid Seats Inc. (NASDAQ: SEAT), a leading marketplace that utilizes its technology platform to connect millions of buyers with thousands of ticket sellers across hundreds of thousands of events each year, has announced the pricing of a secondary underwritten public offering of 16,000,000 shares of the Company’s Class A common stock by Hoya Topco, LLC (the selling stockholder) at a price to the public of US$8.00 per share. The selling stockholder has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,400,000 shares of Class A common stock. All of the shares in the offering will be sold by the selling stockholder. The offering is expected to close on May 22, 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The Company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares by the selling stockholder. Latham & Watkins LLP represents Vivid Seats and the selling stockholder in the offering with a capital markets team led by Chicago partners Brad Faris, Cathy Birkeland, Scott Westhoff, and Owen Alexander and Washington, D.C. partner Joel Trotter, with associates Megan Staub, Joann Murphy, KC Sands, Greer Gaddie, Byron Patton, Chelsea Carlson, and Molly Nelson. Advice was also provided on tax matters by Chicago partner Rene de Vera, with associate Michael Zucker.~~

May 18

1 min