Bernadette Coppola
Overview
Bernadette Coppola is a technology & IP transactions partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Bernadette’s practice focuses on technology, intellectual property, and data-related transactions and counseling, including mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing and services agreements, SaaS agreements, technology development agreements, supply chain agreements, intellectual property licensing arrangements, debt financing and bankruptcy matters, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. Bernadette’s practice also includes counseling clients on data security and data privacy matters. Bernadette has counseled clients in transactions involving a variety of industries including media and entertainment, consumer products, software and services, healthcare, fitness and wellness, and food and beverage.
Experience
Representative Matters
Media & Entertainment
- Unrivaled, LLC, a new 3v3 women’s professional basketball league offering record-high salaries for women’s pro sports, in its Series A funding backed by leading media and sports investors and multiyear media rights partnership with TNT Sports to air games on TNT, truTV, and Max
- Cosm, a leading immersive technology, media and entertainment company, in its multi-year partnership with:
- the NBA that will feature a new live game viewing experience for fans
- UFC that will produce and present live UFC Pay-Per-View events
- the Cirque du Soleil, a world leader in live entertainment
- Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports to produce and present select live premium sports programming from across TNT Sports’ footprint in immersive 8K+ at its forthcoming venues
- ESPN, bringing live sports events to upcoming venues, including NBA and NHL games, the U.S. Open tennis, and college sports, featuring football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and softball
- Sagard Senior Lending Partners as a lender to WildBrain Ltd. in connection with a five-year $415 million senior secured credit facility consisting of a $375 million term loan and a $40 million revolving credit facility
- WEBTOON Entertainment in its $315 million initial public offering, at a $2.7 billion valuation
- The Topps Company in its carve-out sale of its sports and entertainment business line, which consists of its trading card business, to Fanatics, an online retailer of licensed sportswear, sports equipment, and merchandise
- Nexstar in its acquisition of The CW Network
- Abry Partners in its $100 million investment in HARTBEAT, Kevin Hart’s comedy-focused media and entertainment company
- Blackstone, a leading alternative investment manager, in its acquisition of Moonbug Entertainment, a global children’s entertainment company, through Blackstone’s next-generation media company Candle Media
- KKR in its strategic investment in PlayOn! Sports, a high school sports media and technology company, and PlayOn! Sports’ subsequent acquisition of GoFan
- Naver Corporation in its $600 million acquisition of Wattpad, which will combine Wattpad’s leading social storytelling platform with Naver’s WEBTOON, a leading global digital comics platform, and in its $1.2 billion acquisition of Poshmark (NASDAQ: POSH), a social e-commerce marketplace for new and secondhand style
- Verizon (NYSE: VZ) on the sale of Verizon Media to funds managed by Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE: APO) for $5 billion. The carve-out allows Verizon Media to pursue growth areas of Internet and digital media while Verizon maintains a minority stake
- MRC (formerly Valence Media) and its portfolio company Billboard in its:
- joint ventures with Penske Media Corp. in publishing and data matters
- acquisition of the music-industry data, software and analytics business of Nielsen Holdings
- minority stake in Fulwell 73, an Emmy-winning British independent production company involving James Corden
- STX Entertainment in its merger with Eros International (NYSE: EROS), a global entertainment company, and the subsequent sale to a consortium led by The Najafi Companies
- Horizon Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: HZAC) in its $1.95 billion business combination with Vivid Seats, a leading concert, sports and theater ticket marketplace
- iHeartMedia, Inc. and certain subsidiaries, one of the world’s leading global multi-platform media, entertainment, and data companies, in their Chapter 11 restructuring
Consumer Products & Services
- HanesBrands in its $1.2 billion sale of Champion to Authentic Brands Group
- Madison Dearborn Partners, alongside Tornante Company, in the sale of TDS Gift Cards, a provider of gift card processing and program management services, to Ziff Davis (NASDAQ: ZD)
- Tornante and Madison Dearborn Partners-backed Bazooka Candy Brands, a portfolio of non-chocolate confectionary brands, in its sale to Apax
- Express, Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) in its transformative strategic partnership with WHP Global
- L Catterton in multiple consumer brands transactions, including its:
- acquisition of a majority stake in BIRKENSTOCK Group
- acquisition of Kodiak Cakes, manufacturer of frozen waffles and pancakes, oatmeal, baking mixes and snacking products, and subsequent marquee strategic partnership between Kodiak Cakes and actor and producer, Zac Efron
- acquisition of BELLAMI Hair, a provider of hair extensions and haircare brands
- Chantecaille Inc., USA, a leading prestige beauty company, in its acquisition by Beiersdorf AG
- Butterfly Equity in its:
- acquisition of Bolthouse Farms from Campbell Soup Company
- investment in Chosen Foods, a producer of avocado-based food products
- TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity platform of alternative asset firm TPG, on its partnership with company management to acquire Crunch Fitness (Crunch)
- Macy’s, Inc. in connection with its $4 billion financing in response to impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic and liability management exercises. The transactions consist of a $2.8 billion ABL Facility and an additional $300 million bridge commitment secured by Macy’s inventory, and $1.3 billion bond offering secured by the company’s top mall assets and distribution centers.
- Fortress Credit Advisors LLC in its $282 million financing for the take-private acquisition of Perry Ellis International
Software & Services
- Thoma Bravo in its:
- $100 million investment in Imply Data
- acquisition of Calypso Technology, a cloud-enabled provider of front-to-back technology software services
- $1.15 billion acquisition of Venafi, a cybersecurity company that develops software to secure and protect cryptographic keys and digital certificates
- Apax Funds in its:
- acquisition of Infogain, a human-centered digital platform and software engineering company
- acquisition of a majority stake in Herjavec Group
- Inovia Capital and Lion Capital in their investment in Snapcommerce, the message-driven mobile commerce platform
Healthcare
- GTCR-backed Resonetics in its carve-out acquisition of the medical business of Hutchinson Technology
- Revenue cycle management company in its commercial arrangement with a healthcare services company
- One of the largest private healthcare systems in the U.S. in its major IT outsourcing transaction in which a leading global IT services firm provided application development and maintenance services for critical applications that support client's global enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
Clerk & Government Experience
Judicial ExternHonorable Virginia M. KendallUnited States District Court for the Northern District of IllinoisFall 2012
Prior Experience
Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.
More
Recognition
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2017Illinois
- 2013New Jersey
- 2013New York
Courts
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Education
- University of Illinois Chicago School of LawJ.D.cum laude2013
Student Publications Editor, The John Marshall Law Review
J.D. Certificate in IP Law
- Rutgers UniversityB.A., Political Sciencemagna cum laude2008