Jan. 30, 2014
Jeremy M. Veit
See more on Jeremy M. VeitKirkland & Ellis LLP | San Francisco | Corporate
"The fairly active and open credit markets are fueling a lot of what clients do," Veit said. "But, I think the memories are still fresh about the credit crisis in 2007 and 2008."
While a lot of the features of what Veit calls a robust credit market have returned, "sponsors of private equity funds are more anxious to take advantage of conditions as quickly as possible," he said. "They've learned that things can change on a dime. A lot of this is a 'strike while the iron is hot' mentality."
Among his significant matters, Veit last year represented Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital in their agreement to acquire BMC Software Inc. for approximately $6.9 billion.
He also represented Aspect Software in its $145 million acquisition of Voxeo; Devcon Security in its $149 million sale to the ADT Group; and Symon Communications Inc. in its $44 million sale to RMG Networks.
A particularly challenging transaction was Veit's representations of Golden Gate Capital and Blum Capital Partners in connection with their agreement, along with publicly traded Wolverine Worldwide Inc., to acquire Collective Brands Inc. for approximately $2 billion.
"They teamed up to buy Collective Brands and then split it up," Veit said.
That meant two separate equity financings and debt financings between Golden Gate and Blum, on the one hand, and Wolverine on the other, he added.
They had to reach an agreement as to how to divide up the business as soon as it was acquired.
All of that had to pass muster with Collective Brands' board of directors, whose directive was to get the best price for its stockholders.
"But our buyer consortium had to deal with all of the complexities of splitting up Collective Brands' businesses among them," Veit said, along with dealing with a multinational group of players, dozens of subsidiaries and many jurisdictions.
Not that he's complaining.
"I enjoy finding solutions to problems, bridging the gaps and taking on issues that seem insurmountable," Veit said. "This had all of those elements to it."
- PAT BRODERICK
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