A senior associate in the firm’s alternative asset opportunities practice, Christian routinely represents some of the world’s largest institutional investors, including sovereign investors, pension funds, secondary buyers and other large investors, as they deploy capital. He regularly advises clients in connection with a range of transactions around the world and across asset classes, including secondary transactions, GP-led recapitalizations, secondary purchases and sales and other structured liquidity transactions, co-investments, direct investments and joint ventures.
As part of Ropes & Gray’s secondary buyer practice, which represents 10 of the top 15 secondary buyers globally, Christian has advised lead investors – including co-leads and lead investor syndicates – in some of the largest and most complex GP-led recapitalization transactions in the market in recent years. In 2022, the team closed more than 450 secondaries transactions worth over $146 billion.
Christian also has experience with both buy- and sell-side private equity M&A transactions, as well as ongoing portfolio company matters, and has advised private fund sponsors on both open- and closed-end fund formation and fundraising, as well as ongoing governance and operational issues.
Christian also maintains a pro bono practice, including representing an asylum seeker and case screening review for the Innocence Project.
During law school, Christian served as an Executive Articles Editor of the Boston College Law Review and as a Judiciary Fellow with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime & Terrorism in Washington, D.C. Prior to law school, Christian held a number of positions in the Office of the Governor of Rhode Island, his home state, including Chief Speechwriter, Deputy Communications Director, and Special Assistant to the Governor. He also served as campaign coordinator for a successful gubernatorial campaign.
Experience
- Represented the lead investor, co-lead investors or lead investor syndicates in GP-led recapitalization transactions ranging from several hundred million to multiple billion dollars, including:
- The lead buyer in a $4.4 billion recapitalization of a global private equity fund and related separately managed accounts.
- Southeast Asian sovereign wealth fund as lead buyer in a $3 billion single-asset recapitalization of a data center business.
- Consortium of two leading secondary buyers as co-lead buyers in the $1.5 billion fund recapitalization of seven different private equity vintages managed by a global growth equity manager.
- AlpInvest as lead buyer in the $1.2 billion Thompson Street Capital Partners fund recapitalization.
- European secondary buyer as lead buyer with respect to a $1+ billion acquisition of a portfolio of more than 200 credit and REIT positions from a global insurance company and eight of its client accounts into a continuation fund, as well as the launch of a new credit fund platform, including the warehousing of that fund’s initial portfolio.
- Hamilton Lane and Coller Capital in the $250 million recapitalization of two Chinese private equity funds managed by Legend Capital.
- Regularly represents sovereign investors and other institutional investors in co-investment transactions. In 2022, the Ropes & Gray team closed over 400 co-investment transactions.
- Represented healthcare-focused manager on formation, fundraise and launch of $2 billion closed-end fund.
- Represented biotech investment firm on formation of biotech impact investment fund.
- Represented private equity sponsor in its investment in integrated healthcare provider.
- Represented private equity sponsor in ongoing portfolio company matters, including corporate governance and general corporate matters.