Kirkland Advises on Shift4’s Share Collapse Transaction

Kirkland & Ellis is advising Jared Isaacman, the founder of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE: FOUR) in connection with the simplification of Shift4's corporate structure, which was previously announced as being negotiated. The simplification transaction collapsed the company's multi-share class structure into a single Class A share class structure and resulted in Isaacman assigning and waiving his rights under a tax receivable agreement with the company. This transaction was entered into in connection with Mr. Isaacman's appointment as the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and eliminated the company's previous "controlled company" status under NYSE corporate governance standards. In connection with the transaction, Mr. Isaacman received aggregate value of $191.8 million from the company, consisting of a combination of cash, newly issued shares of mandatory convertible preferred stock and the deemed satisfaction of certain obligations for Mr. Isaacman to fund a portion of the company's equity award program. Mr. Isaacman remains the company's largest equity holder with an approximately 25.9% ownership, following more than 25 years of founding, leading and growing the business into a global financial technology powerhouse.

Read the transaction press release

The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Jonathan Davis and Maggie Flores; litigation lawyers Reg Brown and Ridge Blanchard; tax lawyers Sehj Vather, Dean Shulman and David Foster; debt finance lawyer Patrick Loughery; and capital markets lawyer Leia Andrew.