Latham & Watkins Advises bluebird bio in Acquisition by Carlyle and SK Capital

bluebird bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLUE) (bluebird) has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by funds managed by global investment firms Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) and SK Capital Partners, LP (SK Capital) in collaboration with a team of highly experienced biotech executives. David Meek, former CEO of Mirati Therapeutics and Ipsen, is expected to become CEO of bluebird upon closing. Carlyle and SK Capital will provide bluebird primary capital to scale bluebird’s commercial delivery of gene therapies for patients with sickle cell disease, β-thalassemia, and cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy.

Latham & Watkins LLP represents bluebird bio in the acquisition with a corporate deal team led by partners Wesley Holmes, Peter Handrinos, R. Scott Shean, Brian Umanoff, and Andrew Clark, with associates Tiana Baghdikian, Danny Del Giorno, Christopher Siino, and Blake LaClaire. Advice was also provided on capital markets matters by partner Lisa Martin, with associates Alison Vitello and Richard Reynolds; on benefits and compensation matters by partner Maj Vaseghi and counsel Sara Schlau, with associate Nimra Syed; on labor and employment matters by counsel Laura Waller; on intellectual property matters by counsel Darryl Steensma, with associates Aldrich Huang and Kristina Funahashi; on debt finance matters by partners Haim Zaltzman and Elizabeth Y. J. Oh, and counsel Juan Olivares, with associate Tony Noh; on FDA/healthcare regulatory matters by partner Betty Pang and counsel Chad Jennings; on tax matters by partner Katharine Moir, with associate Tessa Young; on antitrust matters by partners Amanda Reeves and Patrick English, with associate Margaret Cohen; on ex-US antitrust matters by counsel Tomas Nilsson, with associate James Mathieson; and on data privacy matters by partner Heather Deixler, with associate Ryleigh Chen.