Kirkland Advises Silver Lake on Close of Endeavor Acquisition
Kirkland & Ellis advised technology investor Silver Lake on the acquisition of global sports and entertainment company Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EDR). The transaction was announced April 2, 2024. The now privately held Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. retains its controlling ownership stake in TKO Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TKO), one of the largest publicly traded sports and entertainment companies, fueled by businesses including UFC and WWE. Silver Lake believes that when consolidating all of TKO’s value into Endeavor, the combined total enterprise value of $25 billion at $27.50 per share makes this the largest private equity sponsor public-to-private investment transaction in over a decade, and the largest ever in the media and entertainment sector. The portfolio of representation businesses owned by Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. will now be called WME Group.
The equity financing for the Endeavor take-private transaction includes a combination of new and reinvested equity from Silver Lake; additional capital from Mubadala Investment Company, DFO Management, LLC (the family investment office of Dell Technologies Founder, Chairman, and CEO Michael Dell and his family), Lexington Partners, funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and CPP Investments; and equity rolled over by individuals including Emanuel, Whitesell, and Shapiro.
Read the transaction's press release
The Kirkland team included investment funds lawyers Mark Boyagi, Jordan Murray, Kevin Lam, Leslie Hung, Alex Roggio and Daniel Grove; and tax lawyers Lee Morlock and Joseph Tootle.
