Kirsteen Nicol
Overview
She is super responsive, very insightful and aware of the market even when it evolves quickly. She is clearly very good on the technical side but also very commercial.” - Chambers UK, 2024
Kirsteen Nicol is a banking partner in the London office of Golden Flag International Law Firm. Her practice is primarily focused on representing sponsors and portfolio companies on complex, cross border leveraged financings. Kirsteen has a broad range of banking and debt finance experience, including syndicated and credit fund lending, leveraged acquisitions, take private transactions across Europe, corporate lending and general banking.
Kirsteen has been recognised:
- by Legal Business in its list of “Women Deal Stars – Alpha 2.0” (2023)
- by Chambers UK (2024) as a “top lawyer and a trusted partner”
- as a “Leading Individual” by The Legal 500 UK (2024)
- in the “Highly Regarded” category by IFLR1000 (2023) for Banking and listed in IFLR1000 Women Leaders 2023 - EMEA.
- by Legal Week in its list of “Rising Stars: The UK's Best Up and Coming Female Lawyers” (2021)
- as a dealmaker in The Lawyer “Hot 100” (2019), which celebrates the United Kingdom’s top lawyers acting on the most significant matters with creative flair.
Experience
Representative Matters
Blackstone:
- on its minority investment in consortium acquisition of Autostrade per l'Italia S.p.A.
- on the acquisition of the Huws Gray group and the UK merchanting businesses of the Grafton Group
- on the acquisition of a majority stake in VFS Global, a global leader in visa outsourcing services
- and Brown Bidco Limited on the $4.73 billion recommended take private of Signature Aviation, the world’s largest fixed base operation network for business & general aviation travellers
EQT to announce financing for acquisition of Keywords Studios Plc
GoldenTree’s Travelodge to complete senior secured notes offering
J.M. Huber Corporation on the sale of CP Kelco to Tate & Lyle
Madison Dearborn:
- and HPS of their portfolio company, The Ardonagh Group’s refinancing by way of the largest-ever unitranche financing transaction globally
- The Ardonagh Group on the acquisition of Arachas Corporate Brokers, a commercial insurance brokerage based in Ireland
Partners Group:
- on the acquisition by its portfolio company, Emeria, of First Port, a UK residential property management services company
- on the acquisition by its portfolio company, Rovensa, of Cosmocel, a Mexican bionutrients and biological solutions company
- on the acquisition of Forterro, a leading pan-European software services provider
- on the refinancing of Emeria, a residential real estate services market company
- on the acquisition of process and conveyor belt businesses Ammeraal Beltech and Megadyne
- on the acquisition of German energy services provider Techem from Macquarie
- on the acquisition of Civica, a public sector software company
- on their and PSP’s acquisition of Cerba HealthCare, a medical biology laboratories company
Pamplona Capital Management:
- on the acquisition of EET, an IT logistics and equipment supply business
- on the acquisition of Pelsis, a global manufacturer and distributor of pest control products
- on the acquisition of Signature Foods, a chilled food company, from IK Investment Partners
- on the acquisition of Loparex, a leading manufacturer of release liners
- on the acquisition and subsequent sale of Partner in Pet Food, a leading pet food company
SK Capital:
- on the $538 million sale of IPACKCHEM
- on the acquisition by its portfolio company, Archroma, of the textiles business of Huntsman
- on the formation of a consortium with Heubach Group and the subsequent acquisition of Clariant's Pigments business
- on its acquisition of Ipackchem, a designer and manufacturer of high performance packaging
- on its further investment in, and the $1.03 billion senior secured and second lien refinancing of Archroma, a speciality chemicals company
Thoma Bravo:
- backed EQS Group on the acquisition of Data Legal Drive
- on its acquisition of Darktrace Private
- on its acquisition of a majority stake in Hypergene
- on its agreement to launch the public takeover offer for EQS Group AG
- and its portfolio company J.D. Power on its investment in AutoVista
- backed SailPoint on the completion of a recommended cash acquisition of Osirium Technologies
- and its portfolio company Veriforce on the acquisition of CHAS
- on the voluntary cash offer for Mercell, a Norwegian digital tendering company
- on the acquisition of Talend, a leader in data integration and integrity
- on the strategic investment in software company, Condeco
- on the £3.1 billion recommended cash offer for Sophos, an IT security company
Vitruvian Partners:
- on the acquisition of Aspia
- on the acquisition of Outpost24, a cybersecurity risk management company
- on the acquisition and subsequent refinancing of Accountor, a financial and HR management software services company
- on the acquisition of Fotona Group, a medical laser system company
- on the acquisition of EasyPark, a parking tech company, and subsequent add on of Park Now
- on the refinancing of Benify, a global benefits and rewards platform
- on the acquisition and subsequent recap of Phlexglobal, an intelligent software company for life sciences data management
- on the acquisition of CRF Health, a technology solutions company for clinical trials
- on the acquisition of Unifaun, a global leader in cloud delivery management solutions
- on the acquisition of CFC Underwriting, a specialist insurance provider
Proofpoint on the acquisition of Tessian
Apollo on its recommended all-cash acquisition of The Restaurant Group
Hyland Software to complete a comprehensive debt refinancing
Magnet Forensics on the acquisition of Griffeye
Travelodge on its high-yield refinancing and shareholder distribution
An ad hoc group of lenders to Archer Limited on the successful refinancing and recapitalization of its $600 million term loan
NortonLifeLock on its c. $25 billion combination with Avast
Crystal Almond Holdings Limited on the sale of Greek telecoms operator Wind Hellas to United Group
E2Open on the $1.7 billion acquisition of BluJay Solutions, a leading international cloud-based, logistics execution platform
Cineworld Group PLC in obtaining $450 million in additional financing, providing liquidity in response to the impact of COVID-19 on the company and the cinema industry
Levine Leichtman Capital Partners:
- on the acquisition of SK Aerosafety Group, an aircraft maintenance and safety company
- on the acquisition of Law Business Research and the subsequent add on of Globe Business Media Group
- on the acquisition of GL Education, a provider of education assessments
EG Group (Euro Garage), a portfolio company of TDR Capital:
- on the acquisitions of Woolworths Group’s petrol division in Australia
- on the acquisitions of Cumberland Farms, Woolworth’s Group petrol division in Australia, 762 forecourt convenience sites in the U.S. from The Kroger Group and Esso Deutschland GmbH (1000 Esso Service Stations in Germany) from Exxon Mobil Corporation
Apax on the acquisition of a majority stake in matchesfashion.com
Goldman Sachs, Park Square and NGA Human Resources on the sale of NGA’s UK mid-market and small and medium business divisions
Advent International’s €2.1 billion refinancing of Oberthur Technologies and acquisition of Morpho
CapVest/IBA Molecular on the carve-out acquisition from Mallinckrodt Plc of its global nuclear imaging radiopharmaceuticals division
Mydentist’s offering of £425 million of senior secured bonds and private placement of £130 million of second lien bonds
Park Square and PIA’s restructuring and acquisition of Northgate
Travelodge on its £390 million senior secured notes bond refinancing and subsequent notes issuances
Sycamore Partners’ acquisition of EMP Merchandising
Labco’s offering of €100 million 8 1/2% Senior Secured Notes due 2018
Greenbriar Equity Group’s acquisition of World Freight Company
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Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2010, Admitted to practice as a Solicitor of Scotland
Education
- University of AberdeenDiploma in Legal Practice2007
- University of GlasgowLL.B., LawFirst Class Honours2006