Keir MacLennan

Since joining Kirkland, Keir has advised:

• Apollo-backed The Restaurant Group in its acquisition of its outstanding stake in the Wagamama from Conversion Venture Capital
• Consortium of CVC Private Equity Funds, Nordic Capital and ADIA on the £5.4 billion recommended cash acquisition of Hargreaves Lansdown
• J.M. Huber Corporation on the sale of CP Kelco to Tate & Lyle
• AA, TowerBrook Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus on Stonepeak’s investment in AA
• Apollo on its recommended all-cash acquisition of The Restaurant Group
• A consortium led by Sandbrook Capital on the acquisition of NeXtWind Capital
• Gen II Fund Services on the acquisition of Crestbridge
• Nordic Capital on:
  • the sale of Sunrise Medical to Platinum Equity;
  • a joint venture with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board to invest in Advanz Pharma;
  • the acquisition of ActiveViam; and
  • the sale of Bladt Industries to CS Wind.
• Allwyn on:
  • the acquisition of stake in Instant Win Gaming Limited;
  • the acquisition of the Camelot Lottery Solutions Group from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board; and
  • the acquisition of Camelot UK.
• Sandbrook Capital on:
  
  • the equity commitment in Voltwise Power; and
  • $500 million partnership with PSP Investments to Fund Havfram.
• Francisco Partners on its acquisition of Kobalt
• Warburg Pincus on:
  • the investment in Aztec Group
  • the sale of its remaining stake in Reiss to NEXT plc;
  • its acquisition of a majority stake in Epassi Group, alongside TA Associates;
  • the sale of Once For All to GTCR;
  • the merger of equals with Norstella to form an end-to-end life sciences solutions provider; and
  • the acquisition of Pharma Intelligence from Informa PLC.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Keir advised:

• Hellman & Friedman on:
  
  • the £1.85 billion disposal of Wood Mackenzie to Verisk Analytics, Inc.;
  • the acquisition of TeamSystem, the Italian software business;
  • the takeover offer for leading payment services provider Nets A/S;
  • the merger of Nets with the Concardis Payment Group;
  • the €2.85 billion sale of Nets Corporate Services business to Mastercard;
  • the €7.8 billion all-share merger of Nets into Nexi;
  • the acquisition of a minority equity stake in Action, Europe’s leading non-food discount retailer; and
  • the acquisition by Allfunds Bank of Credit Suisse’s open architecture investment fund activities, Credit Suisse InvestLab and its strategic partnership with BNP Paribas.
• Warburg Pincus on:
  
  • the acquisition of Reiss, a fashion brand and retail store chain, from the Reiss family;
  • the sale of a stake in Reiss to Next plc;
  • the establishment of McGill & Partners, a specialist insurance broker;
  • the acquisition of Nirvana Developments, an Indonesian real estate developer;
  • the investment in Vincom Retail, a Vietnamese real estate developer; and
  • the investment in ESR Cayman, an Asian logistics developer.
• Permira on its investment in Catawiki, a curated online market place for special objects.
• Centerbridge on its acquisition of Canopius from Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc.
• The founders of True Potential on their agreement to sell a majority stake to Cinven.
• Tesco on:
  
  • the $10.6 billion sale of its businesses in Thailand and Malaysia;
  • the merger with Booker Group;
  • the disposal of Dobbies Garden Centres; and
  • the joint venture in China with CRE.
• AB InBev on the €7.3 billion sale of its Central and Eastern European European business to Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd.
• Aberdeen Asset Management on its all-share merger with Standard Life.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, London

• Partner (2019–2021)
• Associate (2010–2019)

Jones Day, London

• Associate (2007–2010)
• Trainee Solicitor (2005–2007)