The recent $5.6 billion acquisition of cloud-based education software company PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. by Bain Capital is being led by legal heavyweights Kirkland & Ellis and Ropes & Gray. The deal was announced on Friday, with Kirkland advising PowerSchool and Ropes & Gray guiding its long-term client, Bain Capital.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer also played a critical role, advising the special committee of PowerSchool’s board of directors. Notably, this acquisition positions PowerSchool, whose clientele includes some of the largest school districts in the United States, as the latest tech company to go private under private equity backing. The transaction is projected to close in the latter half of 2024 (Bloomberg Law).
The buyout is financed by a consortium of private credit lenders, including Ares Management, HPS Investment Partners, and Blackstone. This acquisition comes amidst a surge in the private credit market, which has effectively grabbed the attention of major law firms (Bloomberg).
Kirkland & Ellis has a long-standing relationship with PowerSchool, having previously advised on a 2021 Up-C IPO that valued the company at $3.5 billion and subsequent acquisitions, including Hoonuit in 2020. The team on this deal was led by corporate partners David Klein, Andrew Norwich, and Daniel Wolf, with contributions from other key partners in executive compensation, tax, antitrust, debt finance, government contracts, and capital markets.
On the other side, Ropes & Gray’s robust team included private equity partners Charlie Boer, David Hutchins, and Jessica Cooney, supported by experts in M&A, IP transactions, finance, tax, executive compensation, litigation, antitrust, regulatory, data privacy, employee compensation, and ESG.
The magnitude of expertise brought to the table by both firms underscores the complexity and significance of this transaction in the current private equity landscape. For more details, you can read the full coverage here.