Kirkland & Ellis International LLP is a ‘leading law firm representing financial sponsor clients’, and it is praised as ‘highly professional, ensuring smooth execution on highly complex transactions’. William Burke and Cedric Van den Borren lead a ‘consistently creative and solution-oriented’ practice, in which Tim Volkheimer, who handles leveraged finance and high yield transactions as well as bond restructurings and liability management transactions, is a key player. Emerging talent Antoine Lebienvenu has a broad debt and equity practice that sees him act in high yield bond issuance, restructurings and consent solicitations. Matthew Merkle and Deirdre Jones joined Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, but the arrival of Marwa Elborai from A&O Shearman is a major coup, as she brings vast experience in advising sponsors, corporates, credit funds and financial institutions across multiple jurisdictions.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
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Accolades
Client satisfaction
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Leading law firm representing financial sponsor clients. Highly professional ensuring smooth execution process including on highly complex transactions. Delivers on a timely basis and identifies potential issues upfront to ensure efficient execution.'
- 'As you would expect highly professional but also a pleasure to work with, taking a commercial approach to get to the finish line. Able to maintain calm heads in stressful situations.'
‘This law firm is leader in the market in supporting its clients in their debt issuance.’
‘I work very closely with Cedric Van den Borren and Antoine Lebienvenu. They are very pragmatic and responsive and always offer a very qualitative service. No complicated jargon but a suitable discourse and teacher approach.’
'Outstanding team which delivers exceptionally high level of service and achieves great outcomes for clients. Consistently creative and solution-oriented, which facilitates transactions that other firms would struggle to deliver.'
'Cedric Van den Borren is a master of high yield. Very smart, creative, commercial, and thorough adviser. Always available on deals and all over the details. A pleasure to have him on your side.'
‘We have a great dedicated team across bank and bond who work together very efficiently and effectively and are proactive in helping to prioritise areas of opportunity and very responsive to our questions.’
‘They are professional, friendly, very responsive, happy to explain concepts and specifics in layman's language and understand the practical implications for the business and work very effectively cross-functionally internally.’
Key clients
- Ad Hoc Group of creditors of Evergrande
- AGG Capital / Arrow Global
- Banijay
- BlueBay and others
- Partners Group / Emeria
- Bain Capital / Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A
- Genesis Care Pty
- GoldenTree Asset Management / Travelodge
- Blackstone / Merlin Entertainment Group
- Strategic Value Partners
Work highlights
Advised Merlin Entertainments Group U.S. Holdings Inc in connection with the issuance of US$500m senior secured notes due 2031. Merlin is a global leader in branded, location-based entertainment.
Advised Banijay, an independent producer and distributor of television content, in connection with the issuance of €540m 7.000% senior secured notes and US$400m 8.125% senior secured notes. The highly demanding transaction, which involved 21 jurisdictions, represented a cross-practice and cross-office collaboration involving capital markets and debt finance teams in London, Paris, Munich and Texas.
Advised Emeria in connection with the issuance of €400m 7.75% senior secured notes. The transaction involved seven countries, making it extremely demanding. Emeria is a global leader in the residential real estate services market by dwellings under management.
Lawyers
Hall of fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Practice head
William (Bill) Burke; Cedric Van den Borren
Other key lawyers
Antoine Lebienvenu; Tim Volkheimer; Marwa Elborai