- +1 212 698 3854
- ken.young@dechert.com
- +1 215 994 2222
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New York OfficeThree Bryant Park, 1095 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, United States of America 10036-6797
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Philadelphia OfficeCira Centre, 2929 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America 19104-2808
Kenneth E. Young, co-chair of Dechert's corporate and securities practice, a member of the firm’s Policy Committee, and co-head of Dechert’s private equity group, focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, with a particular emphasis on private equity and public company M&A. He also works with alternative asset manager firms on strategic transactions aimed at diversifying and growing their businesses.
With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Young is a trusted adviser who enables private equity sponsors and other asset managers to close complex deals, actively engaging with them to shape the market’s wider trajectory. His practice straddles the convergence of current trends in the capital-facing markets and he regularly provides strategic advice to a wide array of clients, including private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies; financial institutions (such as asset management firms, business development companies and other permanent capital vehicles and specialty finance companies); investment and commercial banks; and other strategic buyers and sellers across industries, such as technology, telecom and software.
Advising private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies is also at the core of Mr. Young’s practice. Leveraging his understanding of the most current market drivers, he regularly represents clients in domestic and cross-border M&A and other transactions. Throughout his career, he has counseled dozens of private equity sponsors, including Blackstone, Centerbridge Partners, Court Square Capital Partners, Estancia Capital Partners, and KKR, among others.
Mr. Young is also a leader of the firm’s financial services M&A efforts, devoting a significant portion of his practice to advising alternative asset managers regarding efforts to diversify their businesses, including through acquisitions, as well as in the development and launch of permanent capital vehicles. Representative clients include Barings, Bain, Blackstone, Centerbridge Partners, GoldenTree Asset Management, KKR, Stifel Financial Corp., T. Rowe Price and many others. His work in this space has been instrumental in cementing Dechert’s recognition as a top-ranked law firm in the United States for Financial Institutions M&A by legal directory Chambers USA and as “Financial Services Law Firm of the Year” for two consecutive years by The Deal.
Mr. Young is listed as a recommended lawyer by legal directory The Legal 500 US for his work in both M&A: large deals ($1 BN+) and private equity buyouts, and he is listed as “highly regarded” in M&A by IFLR1000. In 2024, Mr. Young was named the "Most Effective Dealmaker" by The Legal Intelligencer.
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- Cornell University, B.A., 1997, cum laude
- Columbia Law School, J.D., 2002, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
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- New York
- Pennsylvania