Katja Butler

Ms. Butler has been repeatedly ranked in Chambers UK for Private Equity: Buyouts and was named to Law.com International’s 2021 list of Rising Stars, which recognised the U.K.’s top 25 up-and-coming women attorneys.

Ms. Butler was rated as a Leading Individual by The Legal 500 UK 2023, and as one of a handful of Notable Practitioners for Private Equity and M&A in the IFLR1000 rankings. She was named Best in Private Equity by the Women in Business Law European Awards in 2020; and, in 2019, one of Law360’s Rising Stars in private equity, one of Legal Week’s 40 Under 40: The Rising Stars In Private Equity. She also recently has been identified as a Female Future Leader by the Financial Times in its HERoes: Champions of Women in Business List.

She is a key partner in Skadden’s London and European private equity practice, and she was described by clients in the latest Legal 500 UK rankings as “fantastic,” “always available” and “excellent to work with.”

Ms. Butler's representations include advising:

• JAB Holdings in:
  • its acquisition of SYNLAB VPG Limited
  • its acquisition of Cardif Pinnacle from BNP Paribas Cardif to form a strategic joint venture (the Pinnacle Pet Group) to deliver a range of pet insurance services throughout the U.K., EMEA and Latin America. Ms. Butler also advised on bolt-on transactions related to this matter, including a US$1.4 billion investment in Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited’s pet insurance business, the acquisition of AGILA Haustierversicherung AG from Aegidius Ruckversicherung AG and the acquisition of Veterfina Verzekeringsmaatschappij NV from its shareholders
  • Pinnacle Pet Group’s acquisition of Animal Friends Insurance Services Limited from Correlation Risk Partners and Pinnacle Pet’s joint venture with Correlation Risk Partners to acquire Waggel, Vet-AI, Biscuit Pet Care, Kozoo and other pet insurance companies
• Hg:
  • in the sale of a co-controlling stake in IRIS Software Group Ltd to Leonard Green & Partners at an enterprise value of $4 billion (£3.15 billion) and the negotiation of consortium terms going forward
  • in the sale of a co-controlling stake in Azets AS to PAI Partners
  • in connection with its significant investment in IFS and WorkWave businesses at a $10 billion valuation
  • in its further investment in Lyniate alongside other institutional clients of Hg
  • in its further investment in Litera
  • in its investment in Managed Markets Insights & Technology, LLC
  • in its sale of Mitratech to Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, and on the terms of its continued minority investment in Mitratech
  • its investment in Dext
  • in connection with its acquisition of Benevity, Inc. alongside General Atlantic, JMI Equity and the Benevity management team
  • in connection with its acquisition of Gen II Fund Services LLC as part of a consortium with General Atlantic and IHS Markit
  • in its investment in Hyperion Insurance Group Limited
  • in its co-investment arrangement with TA Associates in connection with its investment in global tax software provider Sovos through the Hg Saturn 2 fund
  • in its acquisition of a minority stake in Argus Media, an independent provider of energy and commodity price reporting
  • in its £410 million sale of U.K.-based visual effects producer Foundry to Roper Technologies, a U.S.-headquartered technology company specializing in niche markets
  • in its sale of a minority stake in portfolio company Visma to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
  • as lead investor in the US$5.3 billion buyout of Visma, a leading provider of business software in the Nordic region. This was Europe’s largest-ever software buyout
  • in its further €640 million investment in Visma
  • in its sale of Ullink SAS to Itiviti AB, a portfolio company of Nordic Capital
  • in its sale of Parts Alliance to Uni-Select Inc. for £205 million
  • in its investment in Mitratech, alongside TA Associates and the management team at Mitratech
  • in its investment in Kinapse from Synova Capital
  • in its investment in Sovos Compliance, alongside Vista Equity Partners
  • in its acquisition of Raet from CVC Capital Partners
  • in its sale of a minority stake in portfolio company JLA, together with a refinancing
  • in its equity recapitalisation of portfolio company IRIS
  • in its acquisition of The Foundry from The Carlyle Group for US$312 million
• Litera, a portfolio company of Hg, in its acquisition of Kira Systems
• Silver Lake in its €700 million acquisition of a majority stake in Group Meilleurtaux from West Street Capital Partners, the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs Group
• Coty Inc. in its strategic partnership with KKR & Co. Inc. including the carveout sale of 60% of its professional beauty and retail hair businesses to KKR with an enterprise value of US$4.3 billion and further sale of part of Coty’ s stake in the joint venture to KKR
• Funds advised by Castik Capital in the sale of approximately 25% of portfolio company Waterlogic Holdings Limited to British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
• Funds advised by Castik Capital in their acquisition of two IP management services and software companies, ipan Group and Delegate, and their subsequent merger with CPA Global, a portfolio company of Leonard Green Partners and Partners Group
• CPI International, Inc., a portfolio company of Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC, in its acquisition of TMD Technologies Ltd
• Funds advised by Castik Capital in their acquisition of AddSecure from Abry Partners
• Pret A Manger Ltd, a portfolio company of JAB Holding Company LLC, in its acquisition of EAT Limited
• HighQ in its sale to Thomson Reuters Corporation
• Montagu portfolio companies, including Equatex, Open GI, Funeral Services Partners, Covidence and DEAS, in their capital structures
• Montagu Private Equity in its sale of Covidence to EMK Capital LLP
• Montagu Private Equity and the other shareholders of Equatex in its €354 million disposal to Computershare
• IRIS Software Group Ltd in its acquisition of FMP Global
• Castik Capital portfolio company Waterlogic in bolt-on acquisitions and its capital structure