Private equity partner David Patrick Eich, who has relocated from London, will lead the office in the ICBC Tower of Citibank Plaza, in Hong KongÆs Central financial district.
Eich was instrumental in establishing the firmÆs European transactional practice and played a key role in the global team which recently closed the $10.2 billion leveraged buyout of Philips Semiconductors on behalf of a consortium of private equity funds, which has been billed as one of the largest private equity deals ever completed.
Eich will be joined by partner Chuan Li and senior associate Tai Hsia from KirklandÆs Chicago and London offices, respectively. Both have extensive private equity experience and are fluent in Mandarin. The Hong Kong team is bolstered by more than 20 lawyers from KirklandÆs US and European offices with Asian deal experience and cultural ties. The firm's core practices include private equity, restructuring, tax, intellectual property and litigation.
ôHaving an office and resident partners in Asia is a priority for Kirkland & Ellis,ö says Thomas D. Yannucci, chair of KirklandÆs Firmwide Management Committee. ôChina is the fastest-growing economy in the world and an area where many of our clients are already active.ö
ôPrivate equity is now a global business and our blue-chip buyout clients expect the same sophisticated legal support in Greater China and the rest of Asia that they demand elsewhere,ö Eich explains. ôWe aspire to use our extensive experience in global private equity to become a premier private equity law firm in Asia.ö
Kirkland, which has more than 1,200 lawyers located in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and now Hong Kong regularly represents more than 80 private equity funds and has raised more than $140 billion for financial sponsors in the last 10 years.
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