Kirkland & Ellis is guiding Chicago private equity firm GTCR on its acquisition of Czech drugmaker Zentiva from Advent, which is being repped by Freshfields.
The value of the deal was not disclosed, though the Financial Times reported it valued Prague-based Zentiva at €4.1bn including debt.
The Kirkland team guiding GTCR was led by London corporate partners Jacob Traff, David Higgins and Jiri Peterka and Chicago corporate partners Daniel Guerin and Sanford Perl. Between them, the partners have advised the PE firm – a client of more than 20 years – on numerous matters, including the acquisition of UK insurance broker JMG Group and the sale of Worldpay to Global Payments for $24bn earlier this year.
Meanwhile, the Freshfields team guiding Advent, similarly a longstanding client, was led by private capital partners James Scott in London and Stephanie Hundertmark in Berlin. Tax partner Jill Gatehouse and antitrust partner Frank Röhling also worked on the deal.
Scott, who leads Freshfields’ UK private equity team, has guided a number of Advent’s European deals in the past, including advising the Boston-based firm and Zentiva on the latter’s acquisition of Alvogen’s CEE business in 2019. Last year, Hundertmark also led the Freshfields team that counselled Zentiva on its public purchase offer for Apontis Pharma in Germany.
Freshfields also advised Advent when it bought Zentiva in 2018 from French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi for an enterprise value of €1.9bn. CMS advised Advent on the CEE and Swiss aspects of the acquisition, while Kirkland led on the financing and Weil Gotshal & Manges advised Sanofi.
Zentiva supplies generic and over-the-counter drugs such as paracetamol to more than 100 million people across Europe. Tom Allen, managing director at Advent, noted Zentiva had more than doubled its revenue and EBITDA since it was acquired by Advent.
“Zentiva exemplifies Advent’s ability to carve out and transform non-core divisions into thriving, market-leading businesses,” Allen added.
The Kirkland team advising GTCR also included debt finance partners Daniel Borg, Lloyd Robertson-Jones and Alex Bond alongside Peter Abbott and Polina Liberman (tax); Christie Mok (capital markets); and Emma Flett and Max Harris (technology and IP transactions).
GTCR was advised by Barclays Bank, acting through its investment bank, and BNP Paribas as lead financial advisors. Morgan Stanley also acted as a financial advisor. Advent was advised by Goldman Sachs and PJT Partners as lead financial advisors.
The deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in early 2026.
Private equity dealmaking had its strongest first half in two years in 2025, increasing by 24% year-on-year to $413.3bn according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). Kirkland, which led LSEG’s global M&A legal advisor rankings by deal value in 2024, placed fourth in the H1 rankings after working on deals worth $203.4bn. Freshfields was the highest-ranked non-US firm, placing seventh after working on deals worth $166.7bn.
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