Global law firm Baker McKenzie advised Griffin Capital in connection with the sale of its wealth distribution and asset management businesses to Apollo (NYSE: APO).
The Baker McKenzie deal team was led by Daniel Cullen, Jonathan Temps, Tom Hughes and Maher Haddad, and included the following lawyers:
Corporate and Securities: Colin McGee (Chicago)
Transactional: William Morici (New York), Brian Zurawski and Michael Dvoracek (Chicago)
Tax: David Gong and Russell Lawson (Chicago)
Employment and Compensation: Maura Ann McBreen (Chicago), Adeola Olowude (Washington, DC), Benjamin Ho (San Francisco)
Financial Security: Karl Egbert (New York)
Capital Markets: Kristin Rice-Gonzalez (Chicago)
IP/Tech: Adam Aft and Rebecca Lederhouse (Chicago)
Established in 1995, Griffin provides alternative investment solutions to advisors across the United States. Griffin’s approximately 60 client-facing distribution professionals work across the wealth management landscape and are particularly well-established in the independent channel, a complement to Apollo’s focus to-date on private banks, wirehouses, RIAs and family offices.
Apollo intends to integrate the team into its Global Wealth business, rapidly scaling the strategic initiative. The acquisition also adds valuable technology, infrastructure and hundreds of distribution agreements to the Global Wealth platform.
Apollo will also acquire Griffin’s asset management business, which includes a strong investment team and over $5 billion of AUM in individual investor-focused products. Griffin, a pioneer in bringing alternatives to individual investors, was one of the earliest firms to launch the interval fund structure.
Baker McKenzie is a transactional powerhouse with over 2,500 deal lawyers and expertise in over 46 countries. We excel in complex transactional matters within the alternative investments industry, leading the creation of sophisticated fund vehicles and related transactional matters involving fund advisors. We are global and local, combining money-market sophistication with local excellence.