Sector developments and company hires

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is set to acquire the software, data, and analytics company, Black Knight. Unanimously agreed by the boards of both companies, the definitive agreement to acquire Black Knight would help boost Intercontinental Exchange’s rapidly expanding mortgage technology business. Black Knight is valued by the cash and stock transaction to hold a market value of US$13.1bn, which translates to US$85 per share. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2023, with Intercontinental Exchange supported by Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo Securitise serving as lead financial advisors, and Shearman & Sterling and Morgan Lewis & Bockius serving as legal advisors. Black Knight is supported by JPMorgan as its exclusive financial advisor, and Whitehall, Lipton, Rosen & Katz serving as legal advisor.

In other news….

EMEA

Julia Tsybina has been elected to the Clifford Chance partnership. Based in London, she is a partner in the firm’s derivatives and structured products practice, focusing on CLOs.

Pemberton opens its twelfth office with the establishment of its new Munich branch, which will be led by Adrian Grammerstorf. The firm hopes the opening of its second German branch will help enhance its growth into the DACH region. Grammerstorf joins the firm from Allianz Global, where he served as a director and was responsible for both deal origination and structuring of credit financing for German private equity driven acquisitions. Grammerstorf will work alongside md Nils Weber to lead sponsor coverage and deal origination across the DACH region and expansion of the business in the Nordics.

North America

Alfredo Moreira has joined Blue Owl Capital as a CLO structurer, based in Greenwich, Connecticut. Moreira was previously a vp at Freedom Mortgage and a director at Bank of America, responsible for structuring and placing CLOs. He has also worked at GreensLedge and EY, which he joined in October 2011.

Proskauer welcomes new partner Evan Palenschat to its private credit group. Based in the firm’s Chicago office, Proskauer hopes the addition of Palenschat will further enhance its presence in Chicago and enhance abilities to meet rising demand from clients. Palenschat joins the firm from King & Spalding, and brings extensive experience working across financial institutions, hedge funds, private credit funds, private equity funds, as well as private borrowers, companies, and issuers.