Latham Advises on Financings in Zendesk’s US$10.2 Billion Acquisition by Investor Group Led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira

Latham & Watkins advised on an annual recurring revenue (ARR) financing, the largest ever, and preferred equity financing to support Zendesk’s US$10.2 billion acquisition by an investor group led by leading global investment firms Permira and Hellman & Friedman LLC. The landmark transaction is the largest direct lending leveraged buyout in history.

ARR Financing

Latham represented the lenders in the ARR financing with a team led by partners Michael Benjamin, Nicole Fanjul, and Pamela Kellet. The team also included partners Paul Bonewitz, Peter Sluka, Josh Holt, Jason Ewart, Conray Tseng, and Noah Weiss; counsel Bryce Kaufman; and associates Jennifer Dweck, Edward Prevost, Yekaterina Fomitcheva, Arthur Lo, Kevin Castillo, Juan Carlos Olivares, Saksham Chaturvedi, Fizza Hasan, Diana Duan, Ellen Fischer, Tony Zhou, Sharon Yin, and Ana Núñez Cárdenas.

Preferred Equity Financing

Latham represented the providers of a preferred equity financing in connection with the transaction with a team led by partners Stelios Saffos and Peter Sluka and counsel Michael Saliba, with associates Salvatore Vanchieri, Matt DeSilva, and Kevin Zhang.

Specialized Counsel

Advice was also provided on tax matters by partners Jocelyn Noll and Bora Bozkurt, with associate Aaron Bernstein; on benefits & compensation matters by partners Bradd Williamson and Joe Farrell; with associate Charnae Supplee; on corporate matters by partner Michael Benjamin, with associate Nicholas Reist; on uniform commercial code matters by partner Larry Safran; on litigation matters by partner Linda Inscoe; on sanctions matters by partner Matthew Salerno, with associate Matthew Gregory; on environment, land & resources matters by counsel Joshua Marnitz; on data privacy matters by counsel Robert Brown; and on IP matters by associate Jack Chai.