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Freshfields Counsel to Independent Directors Committee in $12.5B Sale of Qualtrics – Largest PE Buyout of the Year

A Freshfields team in New York, Washington and Silicon Valley is representing the committee of independent directors of the board of Qualtrics in the $12.5B all-cash sale to a consortium of Silver Lake and CPPIB.

The transaction marks the largest private equity buyout of the year and the largest equity commitment by private equity sponsors in over two years. The committee — consisting of Omar Johnson, formerly of Beats and Apple and founder of Opus United, and Kelly Steckelberg, currently the CFO of Zoom — recommended the transaction, the details of which can be found here.

The Freshfields team includes corporate/M&A lawyers Ethan Klingsberg, Sebastian Fain, Tomas Rua and Iantha Stewart in New York and Sarah Solum in Silicon Valley; antitrust lawyers Jamillia Ferris, Emily Strickland and Daniel Wylde in Washington; IP transactions lawyers Mena Kaplan and Chandler Gerard-Reimer in NY and Danny Spencer in Washington; leveraged finance lawyers Allison Liff and Aino Makisalo in New York; tax lawyers Joe Soltis and Brendan Counihan in New York; executive compensation and benefits lawyer Lori Goodman in New York; litigator Meredith Kotler in New York; and foreign investment regulatory lawyer Christine Laciak in Washington.

About Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a global law firm with a long-standing track record of successfully supporting the world's leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments on groundbreaking and business-critical mandates. Our 2,800-plus lawyers deliver results worldwide through our own offices and alongside leading local firms. Our commitment, local and multinational expertise, and business know-how means our clients rely on us when it matters most.

Freshfields is ranked by Chambers Global in Band 1 across the six areas of antitrust, corporate/M&A, litigation, international arbitration, tax, and public international law. For more information visit Freshfields.us.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide legal advice. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.