Laurence Hanesworth

Laurence Hanesworth advises investors and private equity firms on a full range of LP-led and GP-led secondary transactions and liquidity solutions in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. Mr. Hanesworth has extensive experience counseling on traditional LP portfolio sales, continuation funds (single-asset and multi-asset deals), GP-led LP tender offers, strip sales, stapled transactions, late-stage investments, spin-outs backed by secondaries investors and bespoke liquidity solutions.

Prior to joining the firm, he was an associate in the London office of a major international law firm, and also spent time working in the firm’s now-shuttered Moscow office.

Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Hanesworth represented:

• HarbourVest Partners:
  • as co-lead investor in a €1.63 billion multi-asset continuation fund sponsored by Triton to acquire four existing portfolio companies from Triton Fund IV
  • as the buyer in a GP-led LP tender offer in a European fund of funds
  • in its £806.6 million acquisition of the investment portfolio of SVG Capital, a publicly listed investment fund. The acquisition followed an initial £1 billion-plus takeover offer by HarbourVest Partners for SVG Capital. This deal was recognised at the PEI Awards and as Private Equity Deal of the Year at the IFLR European Awards
• a secondaries investor as the lead investor in a $740 million fund of funds to acquire a portfolio of LP interests and provide additional capital for new investments
• Hamilton Lane as a co-lead investor in a single-asset secondary transaction completed by Vance Street Capital LLC to extend Vance Street’s partnership with Jet Parts Engineering
• Pantheon as the sole lead investor in a £551 million multi-asset infrastructure continuation fund sponsored by Ancala Partners to acquire three infrastructure assets from Ancala Infrastructure Fund I
• StepStone Group as senior lead investor in a €563 million continuation fund established by Ufenau Capital Partners to acquire two assets from Ufenau V
• CPP Investment Board as an investor in a $500 million single-asset continuation fund sponsored by GHO Capital Partners to acquire GHO’s portfolio company Validant, a leading international life sciences consulting firm
• Link Fund Solutions in the £223.9 million sale of stakes in 19 public and private life sciences companies to Acacia Research Corporation by the LF Equity Income Fund, the former flagship Neil Woodford fund
• Pantheon in its equity investment as part of KKR’s proposed £2 billion takeover of John Laing Group plc
• a consortium of international secondaries fund sponsors led by Pantheon and Aberdeen Standard in a fund recapitalisation involving the single-asset transfer of KD Pharma Group, a German vitamin supplement manufacturer, and related investment transaction
• DH Private Equity in its sale of the two remaining assets in the DH IV fund to fund DH IV.1, a new multi-asset continuation fund also managed by DH