Kirkland & Ellis advised BAE Systems (LSE: BA) on the $5.5 billion acquisition of Ball Corp.’s (NYSE: BALL) defense and commercial space unit Ball Aerospace. The deal was announced August 17, 2023. Ball Aerospace specializes in spacecraft, mission payloads, optical systems, conformal antennas, and electronically steered arrays. The acquisition will help BAE accelerate its space strategy. Read the BAE Systems press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Sarkis Jebejian, Edward J. Lee and Steven Li and associates David Jean-Baptiste, Eli Markham and Christian Eckel; antitrust & competition partners Ian John, Peter McCormack and Paula Riedel and associate Emily Hsu; technology & IP transactions partners Seth Traxler and Kevin Jacobsen and associate Seth Pritchard; employee benefits partner Matthew Antinossi and associate Caitlyn Pyrce; executive compensation partners Rob Fowler and John Kleinjan and associate James Sprague; government contracts partner Boyd Greene and associate Ashley Pincock; tax partners Sara Zablotney, William Dong and Rebecca Fine; employment & labor partner Christie Alcala and associate Jaime Wamble; environmental transactions partner Michael Saretsky and associate Max Anderson; real estate partner Ian Craig and associate Shawn Lee; and litigation partner Lisa Esayian.