Akin’s transactional tax practice has a strong reputation for its financial products and fund formation expertise, particularly in the private equity and hedge fund spaces. The team also regularly handles high-value M&A, restructurings, and financings, among other matters, recently advising major players in several key sectors, such as OpenAI, Apollo Global Management, and an ownership consortium. Patrick Fenn, focusing on the tax aspects of alternative investment vehicles, M&A, and financial restructurings, leads the group alongside investment funds specialist Stuart Leblang. Joshua Williams also focuses on the private investment funds sector, while Olivier De Moor regularly represents investment funds and their investors in connection with federal tax and tax treaty aspects of cross-border transactions. Alexander Specht concentrates on the federal tax issues arising in domestic and cross-border financial transactions, M&A deals, joint ventures, and partnerships. The tax team in Texas plays a key role in the firm’s energy offering, with Alison Chen in Houston advising major clients, including MLPs, operating in that sector. All lawyers mentioned are based in New York unless otherwise stated.
Key clients
- Terran Orbital Corporation
- OpenAI
- Assured Healthcare Partners
- Apollo Global Management
- Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of SVB Financial Group
- Ad Hoc Group of Secured Lenders to Cineworld
- 400 Capital Management
- Aquadrill
- Angelo Gordon
- Bain Capital Credit, LP
- GoldenTree Asset Management LP
- Royalty Pharma
- Spire, Inc.
- CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
- Fluid System Components, Inc. (portfolio company of PE client)
- Hydrotech, Inc. (portfolio company of PE client)
- FireBird Energy II LLC
- SLB
- Diamondback Energy, Inc.
Work highlights
- Represented Terran Orbital Corporation, a global leader in satellite-based solutions, and its wholly owned subsidiary Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc., in relation to its $2.4 billion contract to design, build, and deploy 288 low-Earth orbit satellites for Rivada Space Networks.
- Advised Apollo Global Management in the formation, fundraising and closing of its 10th flagship vehicle, Apollo Investment Fund X, which held its final close with approximately $20 billion in committed funds.
- Represented a group in the tax aspects of the planning, negotiation and financing of their approximately $6 billion acquisition of the Washington Commanders, a professional American football team located in the Washington DC metropolitan area.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Patrick Fenn, Stuart Leblang