Post by Law.com International

Kirkland & Ellis has fielded cross-border teams to advise on two multibillion-dollar deals in Germany alongside the likes of Latham & Watkins and Hengeler Mueller. On the first transaction, Kirkland is advising the owner of Playlist, which holds brands such as Mindbody, Booker, and ClassPass, in a complex merger with Munich-based fitness company EGYM. The deal values the combined enterprise at $7.5 billion and provides for additional $785 million in new equity investments, with Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners leading the way on investment. Vista, which owns Playlist, is a longstanding client of Kirkland’s, with Kirkland U.S. West Coast corporate partner Ari Levi and Frankfurt-based corporate partner Sebastian Pitz advising. Latham & Watkins is advising EGYM led by Düsseldorf corporate partner Heiko Gotsche and Chicago corporate partner Bradley Faris. Sidley Austin’s Jonathan Blackburn is providing advice to Affinity, while Osborne Clarke, PWC Legal and Lutz Abel and a smaller Kirkland team are also advising shareholders. In a separate deal, Kirkland, the world’s largest law firm, is advising private equity powerhouse KKR on a long-term joint venture partnership with German utility giant RWE for the Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Vanguard West wind power projects. A U.S.-German Kirkland & Ellis team is working with KKR. The Kirkland team includes U.S. debt finance lawyers Roald Nashi and Gregory Howling; and Germany corporate partners Tobias Larisch and Friedrich von der Heydt-von Kalckreuth. For RWE, Germany’s Hengeler Mueller is advising and has teamed up with Norton Rose Fulbright as local U.K. counsel. CMS also did due dilligence from Hamburg. Hengeler Düsseldorf corporate partners Thomas Meurer and Tobias Schneiders, as well as antitrust partner Markus Röhrig and foreign direct investment partner Vera Jungkind are advising RWE. Norton Rose’s London-based global co-head of energy Rob Marsh led the team providing local counsel. CMS did some due diligence with Hamburg partner Dorothée Janzen, as well as London energy partner Dalia Majumder-Russell. Full story from James Jackson: https://lnkd.in/eD9vrVjs