Reverence Capital Partners LP turned to Mark A. Fennell, Kevin W. Mausert, Jason Grover and Andrew Idrizovic of Kirkland & Ellis LLP for counsel on an agreement to invest in Eide Bailly LLP announced on Tuesday, June 23.

The parties didn’t disclose the terms of the transaction, but The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Reverence, a New York-based private equity sponsor, would take a majority stake in Eide Bailly in a deal that values the Minneapolis-based accounting firm at $1.8 billion. The parties plan to close the investment in the third quarter of 2026.

The Deal reported in February that Eide Bailly had retained advisers to explore its options, including an investment or sale.

The deal is the latest in a string of transactions where private equity sponsors have taken significant stakes in accounting firms.

Steven R. Berger and Nicholas S. Zlevor of Vedder Price PC advised the sponsor on accounting issues. Reverence specializes in financial services-focused private equity, structured credit and real estate.

Berger and Zlevor advised Baker Tilly US LLP on its purchase of Moss Adams LLP in a merger of accounting firms last year. Baker Tilly investors Hellman & Friedman LLC and Valeas Capital Partners made additional investments in the combined company as part of the transaction. The duo also worked with New Mountain Capital LLC on a minority investment in Wipfli LLP last year.

Fennell, Mausert, Grover and Idrizovic advised Reverence on its purchase of a majority stake in Sunstar Insurance Group LLC from Brown Brothers Harriman Capital Partners in 2024. In another 2024 deal, Fennell and Mausert counseled the sponsor on a $200 million investment in New York Community Bancorp Inc.

Eide Bailly tapped Kevin M. Georgerian, Matthew P. Bosher, William Freeman III and Lee Davis of Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP for counsel and Lech J. Czerski and Mohit Bhatia at BMO Capital Markets Corp. for financial advice.

Bosher, Georgerian and Freeman advised Crowe Advisory LLC on an investment from funds managed by KKR & Co. (KKR) announced on June 11. KKR, a New York-based private equity sponsor, and Crowe didn’t disclose the terms of the investment, but the WSJ reported that KKR and co-investors would take a majority stake in the Chicago-based accounting and consulting firm in a deal valued at nearly $3 billion. Kirkland’s Jennifer S. Perkins, Daniel A. Guerin, Adarsh Varghese and Adam D. Shapiro advised KKR there.

Bosher has advised several accounting firms on investments from sponsors. He was accounting counsel to Wipfli on the New Mountain investment, and he counseled Citrin Cooperman on a 2025 deal in which Blackstone Inc. (BX) bought a significant stake in the New York-based provider of tax, accounting and advisory services from New Mountain.