Kirkland & Ellis advised AE Industrial Partners and its portfolio company York Space Systems (NYSE: YSS), a U.S.-based space and defense company providing mission-critical solutions for national security, government and commercial customers, on an upsized IPO of 18.5 million shares of common stock at a public offering price of $34.00 per share. York’s common stock began trading on the NYSE on January 29, 2026, marking the third-largest founder-led industrials IPO in the last decade. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team included capital markets lawyers Bob Hayward, Kevin Frank, Ashley Sinclair, Caleb Pilukas, Paul Kieffer and Rebecca Cameron; corporate lawyers Matt Arenson, Andrew Struckmeyer, Jeff Butensky, Isabella Bergonzoli Jaramillo and Christian Suglia; executive compensation lawyers Jake Ebers, Kelsie Harris and Nick Stratman; tax lawyers Rachel Cantor, Mike Conroy, Taddie Larson and Alex Stephenson; debt finance lawyers Michelle Kilkenney, Carolyn Aiken, Jacob Klapholz, Mitchell Steeves and Alex LeLouis; technology & IP transactions lawyers Aaron Lorber and Jeremy Korn; international trade & national security lawyer Luci Hague; government contracts lawyer Boyd Greene; and labor & employment lawyers Anusheh Khoshsima and Maayan Sachs.