REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
Mergers and Acquisitions
Represented Hudson Clean Energy Partners and Stafford Capital Partners in connection with the $298 million sale of 100% of the equity interests of Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, who owns and operate high-quality hydroelectric facilities throughout the United States, to Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Canada’s largest electricity generator. Our corporate/M&A team served as lead deal counsel, coordinating the transaction on behalf of four selling parties, including one in Canada and one in Australia.
Represented Federated Investors, Inc., one of the largest investment managers in the United States, on its acquisition of a 60% interest in Hermes Fund Managers Limited, a London headquartered asset manager providing investment management and stewardship services. Hermes is a well-known pioneer of integrated environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles-based investing. Federated acquired the stake from BT Pension Scheme for a total purchase price of approximately $340 million. The transaction represented a significant multi-jurisdictional expansion for both Federated and Hermes. The acquisition provides Federated with an increasing number of equity and fixed income options, along with opening up new geographic markets for Federated by leveraging Hermes’ strong client base in Europe and Asia. Hermes gained new substantial distribution opportunity into the U.S. market where the ESG investing model continues to grow and define new product development.
Represented Hexagon AB in its acquisition of AutonomouStuff, a global supplier of integrated autonomous vehicle solutions. K&L Gates’s representation required the involvement of numerous offices and many subject matter experts, including with respect to antitrust, employment benefits, intellectual property, labor, M&A, real estate, tax, transportation regulation.
Advised Confluence Technologies, Inc. on its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of StatPro Group plc by Ceres Bidco Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Confluence, by way of a court-approved scheme of arrangement.
Represented II-VI Incorporated, a global leader in engineered materials and optoelectronic components, in its acquisition of leading optical communications developer, Finisar Corporation, in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $3.2 billion, and in II-VI’s related $2.4 billion syndicated acquisition financing. The strategic merger creates a new company that will be positioned to take a primary role in developing and manufacturing next-generation technologies used in new markets such as 5G telecommunications, 3D sensing, cloud computing, and autonomous and electric cars.
Represented Patricia Industries, a part of Investor AB, on the acquisition of a majority stake in health care product specialty distributor Sarnova Holdings, Inc. from Water Street Healthcare Partners and Sarnova founder Matthew D. Walter. The acquisition consisted of Patricia Industries injecting USD$513 million in equity financing for an 86 percent ownership of Sarnova. The remainder of the enterprise value has been financed by external debt and equity participation from Water Street Healthcare Partners, Matthew D. Walter, and Sarnova’s management group and board of directors.
Representing Shoptalk, the leading nextgen commerce event, on a variety of legal matters. We have also represented its founder, Anil Aggarwal, on several additional ventures/exits including the sale of Money20/20, the leading FinTech conference focused on the payments industry, to i2i Events Top Right Group; the sale of TxVia to Google; and the sale of Clarity Payment Solutions to TSYS.
Advised Watermill Group portfolio company Cooper & Turner on its acquisition of Beck Industries, a manufacturer and distributor of high-performance bolting components. As one entity, the company is the first global manufacturer of safety-critical fastening applications with services spanning all key production processes, enabling the supply of products throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and North Africa. Due the varying and numerous jurisdictions of Beck Industries’ subsidiaries, K&L Gates was uniquely situated to manage the transaction on a wholesale basis, which resulted in deal efficiency and resulted in providing wholesale solutions for issues that arose in the transaction.
Represented Shoptalk Commerce, LLC and Groceryshop, LLC, the leading United States conferences for the retail, grocery, and consumer packaged goods industries, in connection with their US$145 million sale to the Hyve Group PLC, a United Kingdom public company.
Advised Continental Aktiengesellschaft (Continental), and its Australian subsidiaries, on the acquisition of the Wesfarmers owned Kmart Tyre and Auto Services network (KTAS) which was subject to the parties receiving approvals from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). This was awarded M&A Deal of the Year (Over $250M to $500M), 2019 at the 11th Annual International M&A Awards hosted by The M&A Advisor.