Finalists: Morgan Lewis & Bockius; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (highly commended).

Kirkland & Ellis's work on Germany's largest-ever financial sponsor-backed acquisition saw it come out on top in the private equity team of the year category.

The firm advised US buyout firm Bain Capital and European peer Cinven on their €5.4bn takeover of German drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel, a deal that took two efforts to complete. The first stab at the takeover failed because too few shareholders accepted the tender offer, so a month later the private equity firms came back with a sweetened deal, raising their offer and lowering the acceptance threshold.

That second effort proved successful, thanks in part to a series of behind-the-scenes talks with large Stada shareholders to eke out commitments to tender their holdings when the bid was relaunched. The second bid was also notable because it required special consent from the German regulator (and Stada), as German takeover laws mean failed bidders usually have to wait 12 months before having another crack.

The deal had other notable aspects. It involved preparing a highly complex domination, profit and loss transfer agreement, which allows the sponsors to legally control the Stada group. And the takeover was pursued without the support of an anchor shareholder, an unprecedented step for a private equity bid.

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