King & Spalding announced today that Matthew Kita has joined the firm as a partner in the Finance and Restructuring practice group. Kita joins King & Spalding from Kirkland & Ellis, where he was a partner. 

Kita focuses on leveraged finance, primarily representing private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies on borrower-side transactions across a wide range of industries, deal sizes, and capital structures. He has also handled a broad mix of lender-side matters, including leveraged finance and securitization transactions.

“Matthew is a highly capable, market-savvy practitioner with sophisticated sponsor-backed commercial finance experience,” said Todd Holleman, co-leader of the firm’s Finance and Restructuring practice group. “Matthew’s knowledge of the private equity and borrower-side finance market will enhance our work on lender-side mandates on both the bank and private credit side, and on borrower-side coverage for private equity clients.”

Kita received his B.A. from Lewis University and his J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law. He will be based in the firm’s Charlotte office.

“King & Spalding has one of the premier finance practices in the country, and I wanted to be part of it,” said Kita. “The firm offers an elite platform with a collaborative and entrepreneurial culture, which is exactly the environment I was looking for to build my practice for the long term.”