Practices

Private Equity

Our expertise:

We advise private equity investors, management teams and financial institutions across the full range of private equity transactions, with specialist experience in transaction structuring, acquisitions, equity and debt financing, recapitalisations, trade sales and IPOs. We offer a multidisciplinary approach, with input from our specialists in corporate, banking, employment, competition, property, intellectual property, information technology, tax and pensions law.

We also work closely with our colleagues in our Investment Management Group in relation to fund formation.

Key areas:

We advise private equity investors, management teams and debt providers on all forms of private equity transactions, including:

• Management buy-outs, management buy-ins and public-to-private transactions
• Growth capital transactions
• Portfolio acquisitions and sales
• Infrastructure fund transactions
• Real estate private equity transactions
• Recapitalisations and restructurings
• All forms of exit, including trade sales and IPOs

Key highlights include advising:   

Acting for private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies

• Acted for the selling shareholders in relation to the sale of Ardmore Studios and Troy Studios to California-based property group Hackman Capital Partners, its studio operator affiliate, the MBS Group, and private equity firm Square Mile Capital Partners for a reported sale price of US$100 million
• Vista Equity Partners backed Four Winds Interactive (“FWI”), the leading provider of enterprise digital signage and workplace experience software, on its agreement to merge with Ireland-based Poppulo, the leading provider of email and mobile employee communication software
• CarTrawler in relation to the controlling equity investment in CarTrawler by TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P
• Irish counsel to Advanced, a portfolio company of BC Partners and Vista Equity Partners, on the acquisition of Mitrefinch, a global provider of workforce management solutions
• Oaktree Capital Management in relation to its investment in the Cannon Kirk Group and in relation to its joint venture with Alanis Capital
• Bronfman Family Office in relation to its investment in Shorecal, Ireland’s largest Domino’s pizza franchisee
• Five Arrows Principal Investments in relation to the buyout of Centric Health
• Exponent Private Equity in relation to its acquisition of the Environmental division of DCC plc and in relation to its acquisition and subsequent disposal of Fintrax
• ECI Partners and the selling shareholders, and separately advising management, in relation to the secondary buyout of Cartrawler by BC Partners and Insight Venture Partners
• I Squared Capital in relation to its acquisition of Viridian Group
• Levine Leichtman Capital Partners in relation to its acquisition of CJ Fallon
• Vista Equity Partners on its majority investment in Trintech
• EQT on the Irish aspects of its $2.5bn acquisition of EdgeConneX
• Summit Partners on its $56m Growth Equity Investment in LearnUpon 
• iCIMS, a portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners, on its acquisition of Opening.io 
• Apollo Global Management on the Irish law aspects of (i) its $1bn+ acquisition of equity & debt investments in energy assets from GE; and (ii)  its $3.6bn acquisition of aircraft-financing business, PK Finance, from GE

Acting for management teams in relation to private equity transactions

• The management team in relation to sale of Beauparc Utilities Holdings, Ireland’s largest waste management company, to Macquarie
• The management team in relation to the acquisition of IPL Plastics, Inc. by Madison Dearborn Partners in a transaction valued at C$555 million on an equity basis and at C$981 million on an enterprise basis
• The management team in relation to the investment by The Carlyle Group in Boru Energy, a new platform targeting acquisition of up to $1 billion, focusing on oil and gas opportunities across Sub-Saharan Africa
• The management team of CarTrawler in relation to the controlling equity investment in CarTrawler by TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P
• The management team in relation to the buyout of Nua Healthcare by iCON Infrastructure