Two Texas deal lawyers in Houston made career moves in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, one in-house and one back to private practice.
Joshua Abbotoy left his associate position at Kirkland & Ellis to become general counsel at Texas Utilities/SouthWest Water Co. while Blackstone managing director Ravi Purohit joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as a partner in its energy and infrastructure practice.
The Harvard Law-trained Abbotoy was an associate at Vinson & Elkins for a year before joining Kirkland & Ellis in October 2016.
While at Kirkland, he advised Blackstone Energy Partners on its acquisition of NRStor C&I from Fengate Asset Management and Lake Bridge Capital II Inc. for an undisclosed sum; Brookfield Super-Core Infrastructure Partners on its $2 billion purchase of a quarter stake in liquefied natural gas facility Cove Point from Dominion Energy Inc.; and Nine Energy Service on its $493 million acquisition of Magnum Oil Tools.
Columbia Law-educated Purohit was in the M&A and corporate transactions group at Skadden for four-plus years before going into private equity, including nearly 10 years as a managing director at Alinda Capital Partners and two-and-a-half years as a managing director at Blackstone Infrastructure, both in New York.
Over his career, Purohit has been involved in more than $40 billion worth of transactions.
While at Blackstone, he was a founding member of its $14 billion open-ended global infrastructure fund and was responsible for sourcing and executing midstream energy, utility, telecom and transportation transactions.
His transactions included the $3.6 billion take-private acquisition of the limited partner interests in Tallgrass Energy held by public shareholders; the $3.3 billion acquisition of the general and limited partner interests in Tallgrass from Kelso, Energy Minerals Group and management; and the acquisition of an equity stake in Carrix, the largest marine terminal operator in the U.S. and the Americas.
While at Alinda, Purohit helped fundraise, negotiate and execute its second and third infrastructure funds. He also worked on its $2.82 billion sale of Reliance Home Comfor to Cheung Kong Property Holdings and Cheung Kong Infrastructure; its $1.15 billion acquisition and $2.1 billion sale of Houston Fuel Oil Terminal Co.; and its $1.89 billion sale of SourceGas Holdings to Black Hills Corp.
At Simpson Thacher, Purohit will advise strategic and institutional investor clients on mergers and acquisitions, asset sales and joint ventures along with other corporate and financing matters.
“I have enjoyed working alongside many of the firm’s partners on infrastructure transactions for more than a decade and am delighted to have the opportunity to advise Simpson Thacher’s clients on their most complex matters,” he said in a release.
Bill Dougherty, chairman of Simpson Thacher’s executive committee in New York, said that Purohit’s background in evaluating, advising and executing energy and infrastructure transactions as a lawyer and an investor makes him “ideally suited” to advise the firm’s clients with interests in the sector.
David Lieberman, who leads Simpson Thacher’s energy and infrastructure practice in New York, said Purohit’s work on high-profile mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other corporate transactions makes him the perfect addition to its team.
Partner Robert Rabalais, who heads Simpson Thacher’s Houston office, said Purohit’s experience across the energy and infrastructure space makes him a valuable asset to the firm’s clients and further bolsters its on-the-ground capabilities in the Bayou City.