Kirkland & Ellis this week announced that V&E dealmaker Brittany Sakowitz has joined its ranks in Houston.
Sakowitz, considered one of the leading young M&A partners in Texas by Kirkland leaders, said she was attracted to the opportunity to be a part of the “preeminent” platform for private equity and M&A.
“Kirkland’s presence in Texas is still less than a decade old and its growth is just getting started,” she said. “I am excited to be a part of that momentum and I see huge opportunities for continued growth in private equity and M&A, particularly in the energy, renewables and infrastructure space.”
In May, Sakowitz led two deals for CoolSys. The California-based parent of refrigeration and HVAC companies acquired Thermal Resource Sales and Supermarket Environment Services Co. and Duquette Refrigeration. Terms for both transactions were not disclosed.
In a simplification matter she co-led in March, Sakowitz helped guide Oasis Petroleum in selling its remaining DevCo interests in a deal expected to reduce Oasis’ net debt at year-end by $16 million.
And in a transaction announced in January, Sakowitz co-led private equity-backed Encore Dredging Partners in its acquisition of Inland Dredging.
Sakowitz, a University of Houston Law Center graduate, says she expects the rest of the year to continue to be “extremely robust” for deal flow.
“Given the amount of capital in the market and recent competition for deals, looking ahead I would expect to see private equity sponsors looking for creative ways to deploy capital such as joint ventures, forward-flow deals, partnerships, minority-stake investments, and add-on acquisition strategies,” she said.
Sakowitz added she is closely monitoring the legal, regulatory and policy landscape and how deals are structured and financed in the evolving energy mix, including renewable fuels and biofuels, waste-to-energy, energy storage, electric vehicles and traditional oil and gas.
Over the course of her six-plus years at V&E, Sakowitz has advised on billion dollar transactions for Energy Transfer Partners, Sunoco and Riverstone Holdings. She has also counseled Houston private equity firm SCF Partners in numerous deals.
“Brittany is a rising star in private equity and M&A and her experience and energy will be an immediate asset to our private equity and infrastructure clients,” Andrew Calder said in a statement.