K&L Gates Advises Apis & Heritage Capital Partners on Creation of Innovative Legacy Fund

New York - On Juneteenth 2021, Apis & Heritage Capital Partners had the initial closing of its first fund, the Apis & Heritage Legacy Fund I. Global law firm K&L Gates LLP advised Apis & Heritage on its formation and on the launch of the fund. Apis & Heritage’s announcement of the closing can be read here.

Apis & Heritage is an emerging private equity firm that has developed an “employee-led buyout” model to give retiring business owners a fair market price for their businesses as employees become the employee/owners of the business with Apis & Heritage’s assistance.

Apis & Heritage was represented on the formation and launch by its Managing Director and General Counsel Natalie Edwards. The K&L Gates team was headed by asset management and investment funds (AMIF) partner Yasho Lahiri and included Rob Weiss and Ray Jensen (AMIF counsel and associate, respectively); benefits, ESOPs and executive compensation partner Rikki Sapolich-Krol; tax partners Charles Purcell and Adam Tejeda, and tax associate Jay Buchman; corporate associate Caitlin Velasco; and ERISA partner Rob Sichel.

Lahiri stated: “It was our firm’s honor to represent Apis & Heritage in this catalytic capital transaction. Catalytic capital has an important place in the spectrum between ‘pure’ philanthropy and ‘pure’ financial investing, even financial investing informed by environmental, social, and governance considerations. Catalytic capital can drive incremental change, which is vital to the people and communities it touches.

“To accommodate this capital within existing legal, regulatory, and tax frameworks requires thoughtful and considered approaches to intricate problems, and these approaches work best where, as here, our client, its investors, and their respective advisors bring intellectual rigor and deep conviction to achieve collaborative solutions.”

“We are building a path in the buy-out world to move from one winner to many winners,” said Apis & Heritage's Edwards. “Our strategy promises to yield strong returns for sellers, for our investors, and most importantly, for workers of color. That said, being innovative in finance is never easy and we are grateful to K&L Gates for walking this path with us, providing excellent counsel and comprehensive documents to reassure our catalytic investors.”