Fresh off the news that it is set to open an office in Austin later this year, Kirkland & Ellis announced on Monday that ex-Baker Botts debt finance partner Rachael Lichman has joined its ranks in Houston.
Kirkland chairman Jon Ballis called Lichman, who was at Baker Botts for nearly a decade, a “rising star who will add to our market-leading debt finance team focused on energy sector transactions.” Houston partner Will Bos echoed Ballis, describing Lichman as a “superstar” who “fits all of the right boxes for us.”
“I’ve tried to hire Rachael for a long time dating back to when she moved back to Houston from Cravath [in 2011]. We’ve kept in touch and she has finally relented,” Bos added.
Lichman, a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, represents borrowers and issuers, financial institutions, private equity funds and other institutional investors in connection with bank financings, including acquisition financings, senior and subordinated debt, working capital credit facilities, bridge loans, asset-based and reserve-based financings and term loans.
“Kirkland has had phenomenal success since it first opened in Texas in 2014. It felt like a really great opportunity to come and help build,” Lichman said.
Kirkland’s 19th debt finance lawyer in Houston had a robust 2020.
In December, Lichman was on the Baker Botts team that advised NRG Energy on nearly $4 billion in debt offerings to firm up its financing for its purchase of Direct Energy earlier in the year.
In another multi-billion dollar transaction, Lichman was part of the deal team that represented BP in the $5.6 billion sale of its Alaska assets to Hilcorp, which was announced in 2019 but wrapped up last summer.
Additionally, Lichman played a role in at least three different transactions for Tennessee-based Delek US Holdings last year. In August, she counseled the company on a $484 million equity exchange. Earlier last year, she aided the company in two different dropdown transactions – one for $100 million and the other for $48 million.
And then there was the combination, announced in January 2020, of Houston helicopter service provider Bristow Group with Era Group where Lichman and Baker Botts worked alongside Kirkland in representing Bristow. Lichman’s team handled the financing of the deal, which involved a reverse triangular merger in which Era issued shares to Bristow stockholders.
“The Bristow deal went really well for both sides,” Lichman noted. “When Will approached me again in the fall that was certainly part of my calculus that I had just worked with them and had a really great experience.”