Katja Butler

Ms. Butler, who is a key partner in Skadden’s London and European financial sponsor practice, has been repeatedly ranked in Chambers Global and Chambers UK for Private Equity: Buyouts and has also been named to Law.com International’s list of Rising Stars, which recognises the U.K.’s top 25 up-and-coming women attorneys.

Ms. Butler's representations include advising:

• BlackRock:
  • as part of a consortium of investors, including Allianz and T&D Holdings, in the acquisition of Viridium Group at an enterprise value of €3.5 billion
  • in its acquisition of Preqin at an enterprise value of £2.55 billion
• Mona Kattan, co-founder of Huda Beauty LLC, in the carve-out sale of Huda Beauty’s KAYALI fragrance business to General Atlantic
• Montagu Private Equity:
  • in the separation of its portfolio company DEAS into two business units and subsequent disposal of (i) the real estate services business of DEAS to PHM Denmark, a portfolio company of Norvestor, and (ii) the asset management services business of DEAS to Fokus Nordic AB, a portfolio company of BlackFin Capital Partners
  • in its sale of Covidence to EMK Capital LLP
  • and the other shareholders of Equatex in the €354 million disposal of Equatex to Computershare
• JAB Holdings in:
  • its acquisition of SYNLAB VPG Limited
  • its acquisition of Cardif Pinnacle from BNP Paribas Cardif to form a strategic joint venture (the Pinnacle Pet Group) to deliver a range of pet insurance services throughout the U.K., EMEA and Latin America. Ms. Butler also advised on bolt-on transactions related to this matter, including a US$1.4 billion investment in Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited’s pet insurance business, the acquisition of AGILA Haustierversicherung AG from Aegidius Ruckversicherung AG and the acquisition of Veterfina Verzekeringsmaatschappij NV from its shareholders
  • Pinnacle Pet Group’s acquisition of Animal Friends Insurance Services Limited from Correlation Risk Partners and Pinnacle Pet’s joint venture with Correlation Risk Partners to acquire Waggel, Vet-AI, Biscuit Pet Care, Kozoo and other pet insurance companies
• Hg:
  • in the sale of a co-controlling stake in IRIS Software Group Ltd to Leonard Green & Partners at an enterprise value of US$4 billion (£3.15 billion) and the negotiation of consortium terms going forward
  • in the sale of a co-controlling stake in Azets AS to PAI Partners
  • in connection with its significant investment in IFS and WorkWave businesses at a US$10 billion valuation
  • in its further investment in Lyniate alongside other institutional clients of Hg
  • in its further investment in Litera
  • in its investment in Managed Markets Insights & Technology, LLC
  • in its sale of Mitratech to Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, and on the terms of its continued minority investment in Mitratech
  • its investment in Dext
  • in connection with its acquisition of Benevity, Inc. alongside General Atlantic, JMI Equity and the Benevity management team
  • in connection with its acquisition of Gen II Fund Services LLC as part of a consortium with General Atlantic and IHS Markit
  • in its investment in Hyperion Insurance Group Limited
  • in its co-investment arrangement with TA Associates in connection with its investment in global tax software provider Sovos through the Hg Saturn 2 fund
  • in its acquisition of a minority stake in Argus Media, an independent provider of energy and commodity price reporting
  • in its £410 million sale of U.K.-based visual effects producer Foundry to Roper Technologies, a U.S.-headquartered technology company specializing in niche markets
  • in its sale of a minority stake in portfolio company Visma to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
  • as lead investor in the US$5.3 billion buyout of Visma, a leading provider of business software in the Nordic region. This was Europe’s largest-ever software buyout
  • in its further €640 million investment in Visma
  • in its sale of Ullink SAS to Itiviti AB, a portfolio company of Nordic Capital
  • in its sale of Parts Alliance to Uni-Select Inc. for £205 million
  • in its investment in Mitratech, alongside TA Associates and the management team at Mitratech
  • in its investment in Kinapse from Synova Capital
  • in its investment in Sovos Compliance, alongside Vista Equity Partners
  • in its acquisition of Raet from CVC Capital Partners
  • in its sale of a minority stake in portfolio company JLA, together with a refinancing
  • in its equity recapitalisation of portfolio company IRIS
  • in its acquisition of The Foundry from The Carlyle Group for US$312 million
• Litera, a portfolio company of Hg, in its acquisition of Kira Systems
• Coty Inc. in its strategic partnership with KKR & Co. Inc. including the carve-out sale of 60% of its professional beauty and retail hair businesses to KKR with an enterprise value of US$4.3 billion and further sale of part of Coty’s stake in the joint venture to KKR
• Castik Capital in:
  • the sale of approximately 25% of portfolio company Waterlogic Holdings Limited to British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
  • its acquisition of two IP management services and software companies, ipan Group and Delegate, and their subsequent merger with CPA Global, a portfolio company of Leonard Green Partners and Partners Group
  • its acquisition of AddSecure from Abry Partners
• Pret A Manger Ltd, a portfolio company of JAB Holding Company LLC, in its acquisition of EAT Limited
• HighQ in its sale to Thomson Reuters Corporation
• Montagu portfolio companies, including Equatex, Open GI, Funeral Services Partners, Covidence and DEAS, in their capital structures
• IRIS Software Group Ltd in its acquisition of FMP Global
• Castik Capital portfolio company Waterlogic in bolt-on acquisitions and its capital structure