Simpson Thacher is representing Grant Thornton Advisors LLC (“Grant Thornton Advisors”) in connection with the further expansion of Grant Thornton’s multinational platform through the pending acquisition of Kevane Grant Thornton in Puerto Rico. Kevane Grant Thornton is a 50-year-old firm with more than 200 team members, making it a leading professional services firm in the Puerto Rico market. The transaction is expected to close later this year.
The deal with the Puerto Rican firm will grow the platform to include 17 firms stretching from the Americas across Europe and the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region. This is the second deal in the Americas for the multinational platform this month, alongside Grant Thornton Brazil on which Simpson Thacher has also advised. Beyond Brazil, Kevane Grant Thornton will join several additional platform firms located in the Americas. They include fellow Caribbean firm Grant Thornton Cayman and Florida-based Auxis, a business modernization and outsourcing firm with more than 1,400 team members located primarily in Costa Rica and Colombia. The platform also includes Stax, a leader in commercial due diligence and value creation headquartered in Boston. Outside of the Americas, the Grant Thornton Advisors platform includes firms in Ireland, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Channel Islands, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the United Arab Emirates ― with plans underway to add firms in Poland and New Zealand. Simpson Thacher has advised on each of these transactions.
The Simpson Thacher team includes Juan M. Naveira, Ben Schaye, Daisy Wu, Luiz F. Noronha, Isabel de Carvalho, Susan Uquillas, Isaac Cattan, Isabela C. Sanchez and Aline Januario Farias (M&A); Linda Barrett, Andrew Blau, Allison Sutherland, John O’Neill, Nicolas Deguines, Taylor Nicole Todd and Benjamin Faber (Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits); Steven DeLott (Insurance), Caroline Geiger, Margerite Blase and Peter S. Cusick (Intellectual Property) and Andrew Purcell, Adam Hersch and Roberto Arza (Tax).