Christopher R.
Machera

Christopher Machera is a partner in the firm’s Private Equity M&A Group. His practice focuses on representing private equity firms and their portfolio companies in a variety of corporate transactions, including leveraged buyouts, dispositions, strategic mergers, joint ventures, investments and other strategic transactions.

Chris has been ranked in Chambers in private equity for every year since 2019, where clients have noted that he is “a rockstar lawyer and a critical partner whilst going through the deal process” who “has the unique ability to both remain very involved in the details yet provide excellent high-level and overarching guidance and advice to his clients.” Chris is also recognized as a “Leading Partner” for Private Equity Buyouts by Legal 500 (2026) and a “Market Leader” for Private Equity in the U.S. by IFLR1000 (2026).

Prior to joining Paul, Weiss, Chris’s experience included advising:

• American Securities:
  • its acquisition of Presidio
  • its acquisition of Arizona Chemical from Rhone Capital
• Aterian Investment Partners:
  • its acquisition of Outlook Group
  • and its portfolio company Vantedge Medical in its acquisition of Hobson & Motzer
  • its acquisition and subsequent sale of Stewart Tubular Products
  • its portfolio company Allentown in its acquisition of BetterBuilt
  • its acquisition of Allentown
  • its acquisition of Hain Pure Protein
  • its acquisition of Xpress Global Systems
  • its acquisition of Pioneer Metal Finishing and Pioneer Metal Finishing’s acquisitions of Pilkington Metal Finishing, Electrochem Solutions and Indianhead Plating
  • its acquisition of Vander-Bend Manufacturing and Vander-Bend's acquisitions of Swiss Precision Machining, substantially all the assets of TMK Manufacturing and J.L. Haley Enterprises
• Blackstone:
  • its acquisition of Champions Group
  • its minority investment in Cyera
  • its $200 million investment in Entrata
  • its $300 million investment in DataDirect Networks
  • its preferred equity investment in Inhabit
  • its investment in Allied Benefit Systems
  • its investment in Amarok
  • its acquisition of a majority stake in New Tradition Media
  • as controlling shareholder of Vivint in the approximately $5.2 billion acquisition of Vivint by NRG Energy
  • its $130 million acquisition of a minority stake in PayCargo
  • its $300 million acquisition of a minority stake in Recurrent Ventures
  • its sale of Concert Golf Partners to Clearlake Capital Group
  • its pending $1 billion sale of Aqua Finance
  • its investment in InCloud
  • its acquisition of Sustana Group and Sustana Group’s acquisition of Hanna Paper
  • its acquisition, alongside Francisco Partners, of Dynamo Software
  • its acquisition of DECA Dental
  • its acquisition of Certified Collectibles Group and Certified Collectibles Group’s acquisition of James Spence Authentication
  • its investment in Hotwire Communications
  • as lead investor, in its investment in Vectra AI
  • its investment in ISN Software Corporation, in a transaction that valued ISN over $2 billion
  • its acquisition of a majority stake in ZO Skin Health
  • the sale of the US Claims business of DRB Financial Solutions to Further Global, and the related financing transaction of DRB Capital
  • as controlling shareholder of Vivint Solar, in the approximately $7.5 billion sale of Vivint to Sunrun via an all-stock transaction and the subsequent sale by Blackstone of shares in Vivint Solar to Coatue Management
  • the acquisition by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities of Concert Golf Properties
  • the investment by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities in Sema4
  • the acquisition by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities of Amergint Technology
  • together with Goldman Sachs & Co., in its sale of Ipreo Holdings to IHS Markit
  • the acquisition by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities of Aqua Finance
• CCMP in its purchase of a majority interest in Octagon Credit Investors
• Citation Capital in its acquisition of Aptive Environmental
• Cornell Capital:
  • its acquisition of Advancing Eyecare
  • its portfolio company kdc/one Development Corporation in an investment by KKR
  • its acquisition of INW Manufacturing and INW's acquisitions of Capstone Nutrition and Bee Health
  • the business combination of kdc/one Development Corporation and HCT Group
  • its acquisition of kdc/one Development Corporation and kdc/one’s acquisitions of Aerofil Technology, Barony Universal, CLA, Zobele Holding S.p.A., Benchmark Cosmetic Laboratories, Alkos Group and the manufacturing assets of Swallowfield
  • its acquisition of PureStar from A&M Capital Partners
• CPP Investments:
  • together with Oak Hill Capital Partners, in the recapitalization of Berlin Packaging
  • its investment, alongside Silver Lake Partners and Mubadala Investment Company, in Waymo
  • the business combination of Ultimate Software and Kronos
  • its acquisition, alongside EQT Partners, of Waystar from Bain Capital
  • the take-private by a consortium, led by Hellman & Friedman, of The Ultimate Software Group
  • the recapitalization of Berlin Packaging, resulting in CPP Investments and Oak Hill Capital Partners having joint control of Berlin
  • its co-investment, with Insight Venture Partners, in Veeam Software
  • the acquisition by a consortium, which also includes Blackstone and GIC, of a majority stake in Thomson Reuters' Financial & Risk business
• CVC Capital Partners:
  • its majority investment in DistroKid
  • its acquisitions of Gaming Laboratories International, Worldwide Laboratories and Kobetron
  • its acquisition of Radwell International and Radwell’s acquisition of Electrical Source Holdings
  • its acquisition of a significant minority stake in CFGI, in a transaction that valued CFGI at $1.9 billion
  • its sale of Cunningham Lindsey to Sedgwick Claims Management Services, a portfolio company of KKR
• DLJ Merchant Bank in its $600 million acquisition of United Site Services
• EQT Partners and its portfolio company Sivantos Pte. in its acquisitions of Clearwater Clinical Limited and TruHearing
• GE Capital:
  • its minority investment in Bobcat Gas Storage
  • its minority investment in Verified Identity Pass
• GHK Capital Partners:
  • its sale of ITS Logistics
  • its acquisition of Rogers Building Solutions
  • its acquisition of Johns-Byrne
  • its acquisition of ITS Logistics
  • its sale of a substantial interest in Brown & Settle
• Goldman Sachs:
  • a strategic investment by its Private Equity business in Schellman
  • its acquisition of a majority stake in NAVEX
  • and its portfolio company Omega Healthcare Management Services in an investment by Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
  • its $1.7 billion acquisition of Sila Services
  • its $440 million investment in BrightNight
  • its $1.04 billion equity investment and subordinated debt financing in World Insurance Associates
  • its $300 million investment in Madhive
  • and Eurazeo in their $624 million sale of a 49% stake in Trader Interactive to carsales.com and in the sale of their remaining 51% stake in Trader Interactive
  • its $325 million investment in iSpot.tv
  • its sale of Restaurant Technologies to ECP Partners
  • its $8.5 billion acquisition, alongside EQT, of Parexel
  • its acquisition of a significant stake in Zaxby’s
  • its acquisition of Restaurant Technologies, Inc. from Aurora Management Partners
  • its acquisition of Trader Interactive from Landmark Media
  • its sale of Drayer Physical Therapy Institute to Upstream Rehabilitation
• Growthcurve Capital in its acquisition of PureFacts Financial Solutions
• HighPost Capital along with Charlesbank Capital Partners, in its investment in Front Row Group
• Kendra Scott Design in its sale of a significant minority stake to Berkshire Partners
• KSL Capital Partners in a minority investment in Honors Holdings, a franchisee of Orangetheory® Fitness
• Lee Equity in its take-private of Deb Shops
• Lehman Brothers Holdings:
  • the sale of its interests in its real estate equity funds to management
  • the sale of its interests in its merchant banking private equity funds to management and Reinet Investments
  • the sale of its interests in its real estate debt funds to Pacific Coast Capital Partners
  • the sale of its limited partner and general partner interests in R3 Capital Partners to the principals of R3 Capital Partners
• Linden Structured Credit Fund in its preferred equity investment in Aspirion, a portfolio company of Aquiline Capital and Ares Capital
• Lindsay Goldberg in its minority investment in Duff Capital Advisors
• Man Group:
  • its purchase of interests in the general partner and management company entities of Ore Hill Capital Partners
  • its sale of 50% of its interests in Pemba Capital Partners
• Motive Partners:
  • its strategic investment in Intelliware Holdings
  • its investment in Splitit
• National Surgical Hospitals in its $760 million sale to Surgery
• Oak Hill Capital:
  • together with CPP Investments, in the recapitalization of Berlin Packaging
  • and its portfolio company Galway Insurance Holdings, together with The Carlyle Group, in the sale of a majority stake in Galway to Harvest Partners, with Oak Hill and Carlyle reinvesting in Galway
  • its sale of TriPlus Administrative Services
  • and its portfolio company EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants in the merger of EPIC and JenCap Holdings
  • the acquisition of EPIC Insurance and EPIC’s acquisitions of Prime Risk Brokers, the U.S. operations of Integro Group and Frenkel & Company
  • its acquisition of Dave & Buster's from Wellspring Capital Management
  • its acquisition of Ability Reinsurance Holdings
• Ospraie Management in its sale of interests in its general partner and management company entities to Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity
• Providence Equity Partners:
  • its take-private of Virtual Radiologic Corporation
  • its take-private of NightHawk Radiology Services
  • its joint venture with NBCUniversal and Fox in connection with the creation of Hulu
• Shoes for Crews in its acquisition of the SureGrip Footwear division of Genesco
• TPG:
  • its significant investment in Smith + Howard
  • the launch of Third Wave Insurance and its partnership with Palmer & Cay
  • and Irth Solutions in its acquisition of Boreal Information Strategies
  • its acquisition of Irth Solutions
  • its acquisition of a majority stake in Morrow Sodali and Morrow Sodali’s acquisitions of Domestique and Powerscourt
  • its acquisition of Keter Environmental Services and in the merger of Keter and Waste Harmonics
  • TPG Pace Solutions, a SPAC sponsored by TPG, in its $4.5 billion business combination with Vacasa
  • the sale of United Family Healthcare by UFH's existing shareholders, including affiliates of TPG and Fosun Pharma, to New Frontier Corporation, a public investment vehicle sponsored by New Frontier Group, with the resulting entity, New Frontier Health Corporation, having an initial enterprise value of $1.4 billion
  • the acquisition by TPG Pace Holdings a SPAC sponsored by TPG Global, of the stock of Accel Entertainment for an enterprise value of approximately $884 million
  • the refinancing of J.Crew Group
  • the acquisition by a SPAC sponsored by an affiliate of TPG, with Playa Hotels & Resorts B.V., a transaction valued at approximately
    $1.75 billion
• TruArc Partners:
  • the sale of Ideal Tridon Group to Nautic Partners
  • the sale of AI Fire in a transaction that implies an enterprise value over $1 billion
  • its acquisition of Watchtower Security
  • its sale of AMAROK
  • its acquisition of Academy Fire Life Safety
  • the sale of Kele Inc. to the Stephens Group
  • its acquisition of Ideal Tridon from American Industrial Partners
  • its acquisition of DecoPac
  • its acquisition of Arr-Maz Custom Chemicals
• Univision Communications in its joint venture with Grupo Televisa
• The Visualize Group in its acquisition of BMM Testlabs
• WPEngine in the $250 million sale of a majority stake to Silver Lake Partners