Big Law giants assemble for largest PE buyout in history

A who's who of Big Law heavyweights have landed roles on the $55 billion take-private of video game giant Electronic Arts (EA), in a deal that's on track to be to be the largest private equity buyout in history.

EA, the maker of titles including FIFA (now EA Sports FC), Need for Speed, The Sims and Madden NFL, will be acquired by a consortium including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), US buyout house Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, the Miami-based PE firm founded by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald Trump.

Behind the deal

EA is listed on the Nasdaq and is a member of the S&P 500. It posted revenues of around $7.5 billion last year.

The deal will be financed by around $36 billion in equity from PIF (which will roll over its existing 9.9% stake), Silver Lake and Affinity, as well as a $20 billion loan from JPMorgan - understood to be the largest debt commitment ever by a single bank for such a deal, according to Bloomberg.

As well as being the largest-ever leveraged buyout (LBO), the transaction is also one of the gaming sector’s biggest in recent years - alongside Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Call of Duty and Candy Crush maker Activision Blizzard in 2023 (Simpson Thacher and Skadden led on that one).

Advising

Kirkland & Ellis is leading for the consortium and is also acting as lead legal adviser for PIF alongside Gibson Dunn.

Latham & Watkins and Simpson Thacher are advising Silver Lake, while Sidley Austin is acting for Affinity Partners.

Wachtell is advising EA.