Kirkland & Ellis

Chairman: Jon A. Ballis, Chair of the Firm Executive Committee

Languages: Cantonese, English, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin

Firm Overview:

For more than 100 years, global clients have called upon Kirkland & Ellis to handle private equity, M&A and other complex corporate transactions, litigation and dispute resolution/arbitration, restructuring, and intellectual property matters. Today, more than 4,000 lawyers in 23 international offices are dedicated to providing the highest quality service to clients around the world. The Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai offices have more than 110 lawyers serving global clients on private equity, investment funds, mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, capital markets, restructuring, internal investigations and litigation matters.

Main Areas of Practice:

■ Antitrust & Competition

■ Capital Markets

■ Debt Finance

■ Financial Services Regulatory

■ Government & Internal Investigations

■ International

■ Litigation & Arbitration

■ Investment Funds

■ Mergers & Acquisitions

■ Private Equity

■ Restructuring/Insolvency

Antitrust & Competition:

Kirkland advises on all aspects of competition law, including merger control, market dominance, cartel investigations, sector inquiries and private enforcement. The firm represents clients across a range of industries, including financial services, media and communications, energy and transport.

Capital Markets:

Kirkland represents issuers, sponsors and underwriters in a wide variety of international securities transactions, with a particular focus on offerings of high-yield and other debt securities. The firm has solid experience working with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong on some of the most complex and high-profile capital markets transactions in the market.

Debt Finance:

The leading debt finance practice services both borrowers and lenders in a wide variety of financing transactions across the entire capital structure. It engages in every aspect of a financing transaction: advising borrowers and lenders on senior, subordinated, mezzanine and bridge financing transactions, as well as high-yield offerings. The firm has unsurpassed experience in structuring and negotiating the various layers of senior and unsubordinated debt and equity financing in connection with leveraged acquisitions. The group also handles DIP financings, exit financings and debt restructurings.

Government & Internal Investigations:

Lawyers serve as global anti-corruption and international risk counsel for many of the world’s largest investment firms and multinational corporates. They provide risk-based advice to sponsors and their portfolio companies on all issues relating to compliance with relevant anti-corruption, sanctions, anti-money laundering and export controls laws. On-the ground experience in China, India and Greater Asia together with the team’s government experience in the US means the firm has the senior officials who devised the DOJ and SEC’s current policies addressing major issues of individual and corporate criminal and civil liability, available for client seeking the highest levels of guidance on potential international enforcement advice.

International Litigation & Arbitration:

The firm represents multinational corporations, governments and government-owned entities in complex litigation and international arbitration cases around the world. Lawyers are recognised for their experience in the conduct of white- collar crime investigations on a global basis.

Investment Funds:

Kirkland is a global leader in providing sophisticated advice to investment fund sponsors, institutional investors and other market participants in the alternative investment fund space. More than 620 attorneys focus on investment funds across the globe, uniquely positioning the firm to serve its clients in connection with the formation, organisation and operation of buyout, growth-equity, venture, real estate, infrastructure, energy, credit, mezzanine, private equity and hedge funds, as well as their respective management companies.

Private Equity/Mergers & Acquisitions:

Lawyers cover the full spectrum of corporate transactions important to businesses in today’s global marketplace. Because of the firm’s consistently high volume of complex transactional engagements, it has developed a broad vision of the issues that confront business organisations and an aptitude for developing novel, creative and constructive solutions. The firm has extensive experience representing private equity sponsors in complex and cross-border transactions involving listed companies in Asia, as well as US-listed Asia companies.

Restructuring/Insolvency:

By combining sophisticated business advisory and crisis management skills with extensive experience in multijurisdictional insolvency matters, Kirkland’s global restructuring group navigates clients through situations involving financially troubled companies. The firm has earned a distinguished reputation by achieving positive results for a wide range of global clients in complex corporate restructuring, workout and bankruptcy planning, negotiation and litigation. Kirkland also has lawyers with significant experience in the areas of IP, international trade and national security, real estate, regulatory and tax matters.