Private Equity

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Private Equity Practice represents many of the largest and most active financial sponsors, sovereign wealth funds and other investor groups around the world.

We provide a full-service solution to our private equity clients.  We handle deals ranging from venture and growth capital transactions through multibillion-dollar club deals.  In close coordination with lawyers in other Gibson Dunn practice areas, we provide a comprehensive service including:

• Due diligence and compliance
• Deal negotiation, documentation and execution
• Tax structuring
• Acquisition finance
• Corporate governance
• Management equity

Post-acquisition, we work with client portfolio companies on a wide range of matters, including business and financial restructurings, add-on acquisitions and leveraged recaps.  We handle private equity exit transactions, including trade sales and initial public offerings.  Because of our international reach, we are involved in some of the most complex multijurisdictional deals.

We also work closely with the fund formation teams of our Investment Funds Practice Group, providing cutting-edge sophistication in the organization of private investment funds and fund management companies, as well as other fund-related matters.

We distinguish ourselves in global markets:

• We are an integrated global team, of unparalleled quality and service orientation.
• We learn our clients’ business and the business of their portfolio companies to provide commercially sensitive advice and to add maximum value.
• We maintain a low associate/partner ratio, ensuring senior lawyer involvement throughout, and delivering a better product at a price that competes favorably with firms that rely on high leverage to support profitability.
• Our market-leading U.S. capital markets, finance and regulatory practices (including FCPA) give our European, Asian and emerging markets private equity teams an edge that few firms can offer.

Experience

Representations include:

• Aurora Capital Group in its acquisition of National Technical Systems; in its acquisition of the Insurance Solutions Division of Zywave, Inc., a leading provider of insurance software solutions; and in its sale of NuCO2, a provider of bulk carbon dioxide (CO2) products and services to the U.S. fountain beverage industry.
• Catterton Partners in its acquisition of, and subsequent equity investment in the IPO of, portfolio company Restoration Hardware; in its investment in French crystal company, Baccarat, via capital raise; and in its acquisition and subsequent equity investment in the IPO of Noodles & Company, a restaurant chain.
• CVC Capital Partners in its acquisition of majority ownership of AlixPartners LLC, a business advisory firm.
• First Reserve Corporation in its sale of a 20 percent share in portfolio company KrisEnergy Holdings, an upstream oil and gas company, to investment firm Keppel Corporation.
• Carlyle’s fund in the Middle East, in its disposal of Global Lighting Company, a leading Saudi manufacturer and distributor of lighting products, to Philips; and in its disposal of Medical Parks, a leading Turkish hospital business, in a secondary buyout.
• Investcorp in its acquisition of Fishnet Security, an information technology security firm, from Lake Capital; in its acquisition of Hydrasun, a provider of fluid control equipment and solutions for the oil and gas industry; and in its acquisition of GL Education Group, a provider of school assessment solutions for primary and secondary schools, from Veronis Suhler Stevenson.
• Kuwait Investment Authority in its cornerstone investments in the $1.94 billion IPO of Citic Securities International Company, the $22.1 billion IPO of the Agricultural Bank of China and the $17.8 billion IPO of American International Assurance, the Asian unit of American International Group.
• Littlejohn & Co. LLC in its acquisition of CTI Foods and its sale to Thomas H. Lee Partners and Broad Street; in its acquisition of SunSource from CHS Capital; in its $890 million sale of portfolio company LJVH Holdings (Van Houtte), a provider of gourmet coffee products, to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters; and in its sale of portfolio company Kenan Advantage to Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.
• Whitney & Co., LLC in connection with its acquisition of TIDI Products from Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Co.; and its acquisition, with the existing management team, of Autosplice, a provider of custom electronic interconnect solutions.