Mehdi Khodadad
Partner; Co-Leader, Global Private Equity Practice; Member, Executive Committee
Sidley Austin LLP
Few peers can match Mehdi Khodadad in the variety, creative structuring, complexity, and output of the deals he orchestrates. Co-leader of Sidley’s global Private Equity practice, Khodadad has led more than 85 private equity/M&A deals alone since the start of 2021, with an aggregate value exceeding $70.3 billion.
In one of 2021’s most widely reported deals, Khodadad advised long-time private equity client Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. in its $5.4 billion acquisition of Quest Software from Francisco Partners. This complex LBO was a multi-jurisdictional deal, under an extremely short fuse as PE firms aggressively compete for leading technology/software platforms.
Quest was originally acquired by Francisco Partners as a carve-out from Dell, and the Clearlake transaction involved restructuring Quest as two separate business units under an Irish-domiciled Cayman structure, achieved in less than two weeks. A trusted advisor, Khodadad undertook other key platform acquisitions during 2021 for Clearlake and other sponsors.’
