Helene Marie Snyder

Simpson Thacher advised KKR, a leading global investment firm, and Global Technical Realty (“GTR”), a multi-billion dollar European built-to-suit data center platform, in connection with KKR’s additional $1.5 billion equity commitment into GTR. In connection with this investment, Oak Hill Capital (“Oak Hill”), a thematic, middle-market private equity firm, will join as an investor in the company, committing approximately $400 million. The new commitments from KKR and Oak Hill will support GTR’s substantial development pipeline, including additional greenfield capacity and new market entries across Europe to meet rising demand for high-performance and power-dense compute and cloud infrastructure. With a growing operating team and multiple projects already in execution, GTR is positioned to scale rapidly across Europe as demand for AI-ready data center capacity continues to accelerate. The Simpson Thacher team consisted of Breen Haire, Katy Lukaszewski, David Bumgardner, Eric Zhi, George Smith and Matt Warren (M&A), David Rubinsky, Caitlin Lucey and Josh Goldman (ECEB); Nancy Mehlman, Yash Rupal and Matthew Lester (Tax); Ron Ben-Yehuda (Intellectual Property); and Dennis Loiacono (Real Estate).

Aug 1

1 min

Simpson Thacher is representing Blackstone in connection with its strategic relationship with Resolution Life Group Holdings, Ltd. (“Resolution Life”).~~Resolution Life is a leading global life and annuity insurance consolidation business. Resolution Life will be Blackstone’s strategic partner for new closed book transactions, including reinsurance, in the life and annuity sector globally. Resolution Life and Blackstone plan to raise $3 billion of new equity capital commitments – including a $500 million strategic investment from Blackstone – bringing Resolution Life’s overall equity capital base to more than $8 billion.~~The Simpson Thacher team includes Elizabeth Cooper (M&A); Michael Wolitzer, Benjamin Smith, Daniela Chediak, Shreya Tallanje, Sung Won Choi and Helene Marie Snyder (Private Funds); Gregory Grogan (ECEB); and Jonathan Goldstein (Tax).

Dec 10

1 min

Simpson Thacher represented Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (“Hovnanian”), one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, in connection with its recent debt exchange transactions.~~As part of the debt exchange transactions, K. Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc., Hovnanian’s wholly owned subsidiary (“K. Hovnanian”), completed private exchanges (the “Exchange”) of (i) approximately $64.0 million aggregate principal amount of its 13.5% Senior Notes due 2026 and approximately $21.5 million in cash for approximately $42.5 million aggregate principal amount of additional Senior Secured 1.75 Lien Term Loans, (ii) approximately $65.2 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.0% Senior Notes due 2040 for approximately $31.4 million aggregate principal amount of additional Senior Secured 1.75 Lien Term Loans and (iii) approximately $39.6 million aggregate principal amount of its 5.0% Senior Unsecured Term Loans maturing in 2027 and approximately $10.0 million in cash for approximately $19.6 million aggregate principal amount of additional Senior Secured 1.75 Lien Term Loans.~~In connection with the Exchange, K. Hovnanian entered into the First Amendment to the credit agreement governing its Senior Secured 1.75 Lien Term Loans which, among other things, permits the issuance of the additional $93.5 million of Senior Secured 1.75 Lien Term Loans described above.~~The Simpson Thacher team included Marisa Stavenas, Tony Rim, Anna Jarman, Ziang Zhou and Sofia Elkina (Capital Markets); Bill Sheehan, Alexander Kleinhaus-Resisi and Elizabeth Greene (Banking and Credit); Jonathan Pall (Collateral); Courtney Welshimer (Intellectual Property); Jonathan Cantor and Matthew Lester (Tax); Krista McManus, Timothy Gallagher and Helene Snyder (Real Estate); and Jamin Koslowe (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits).

May 23

1 min

Simpson Thacher represented KKR Real Estate in connection with its new strategic joint venture (JV) with Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated to own and invest in quality medical outpatient buildings. Under the terms of the agreement, Healthcare Realty will contribute up to 12 of its existing properties to seed the JV at a cumulative value of $382.5 million. KKR will make an equity contribution to the JV equal to 80% of the value of the properties, and Healthcare Realty will retain a 20% interest. The portfolio totals 762,399 square feet across Washington, California, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. KKR has committed up to $600 million to the JV to pursue future acquisitions or contributions of high-quality stabilized assets that are a match for its long-term capital base.~~The Simpson Thacher team includes Scott Kobak, Leanne Welds, Steven Stickler, Helene Snyder, Spencer Goodson and Simone Hernandez (Real Estate); and Benjamin Rippeon, Adam Arikat and Ruoxi Zhang (Tax).

May 16

1 min

Simpson Thacher is representing Blackstone in its recently announced $3.1 billion sale of a 14 million square foot industrial portfolio to Prologis, Inc. The transaction, which is one of the largest commercial real-estate deals of 2023, is expected to close by the end of the second quarter. Over the past 11 years, Blackstone and Prologis have completed more than a dozen transactions together and Simpson Thacher has been involved in nearly all of them.~~The Simpson Thacher team includes Sas Mehrara, Robert Vogel, Michael Scala, Sheryl Koretz, Ryan Kesselring, Helene Marie Snyder, Jonathan Hoffman and Isabelle McAlevey (Real Estate). Summer Associates Morgan Brody, Jacob Melnick and Hannah Marose provided invaluable assistance.

Jun 26

1 min