As PG&E Corporation prepares to emerge out of bankruptcy, Jackson Walker represented New York-based hedge fund Zimmer Partners, LP in entering into a definitive investment agreement to purchase $675 million of an aggregate $3.25 billion in common stock of PG&E. The private placement of public equity (PIPE) transaction will help fund a portion of PG&E’s chapter 11 exit financing and is conditioned upon, among other things, PG&E completing an underwritten public equity offering and private placements of equity securities in an aggregate amount of $5.75 billion of gross proceeds.
Founded in 2012 in New York City, Zimmer Partners, LP is a registered investment advisory firm focused on utility- and infrastructure-related investments. Headquartered in San Francisco, PG&E Corporation is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, an energy company that serves 16 million Californians across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California.
The Jackson Walker team included corporate partner Alex Frutos, bankruptcy partner Michael Held, and tax partner Ronald D. Kerridge.
For more information about the transaction, read the PG&E Corporation announcement.
Meet Our Team
Alex Frutos concentrates his practice on venture capital, private equity, corporate finance and securities, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate and other transactional matters. Alex represents strategic and financial buyers and sellers in public and private M&A transactions, issuers, underwriters, and investors in public and private debt and equity offerings, and companies and special board committees in corporate governance matters.
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Michael S. Held has extensive experience with out-of-court workouts and in-court restructurings, liquidations, and contested matters. Mike routinely advises and counsels secured lenders, landlords, contract parties, unsecured creditors, buyers of distressed assets, plaintiffs and defendants in contested matters and adversary proceedings and businesses in need of restructuring or orderly liquidation.
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Ronald D. Kerridge divides his time between transactional tax matters and tax controversies. On the transactional side, Ron’s practice emphasizes tax structuring of acquisitions and strategic partnerships. In his controversy practice, Ron represents clients before the IRS on a wide variety of federal income tax issues, including life insurance company reserves, abandonment losses, sales of transferable tax credits, reasonable compensation, “hobby” losses, passive activity losses, S corporation “built-in gains” tax, oil and gas carries, accumulated earnings tax, and imposition of tax penalties.
Meet JW
Texas born and raised more than a century ago, Jackson Walker continues to advance the world of business by helping companies of all sizes navigate today’s increasingly complex, interconnected legal landscape. With more than 400 attorneys across seven offices, we are the fourth-largest law firm in the state and have been recognized by Law360 as a “Texas Powerhouse” and an “elite law firm” that regularly provides counsel to industry-leading clients on highly complex transactions. For explore the Firm’s experience with public and private offerings and investment opportunities, visit our Corporate & Securities practice page.
