Kirkland Helps Francisco Back a Music-Creation Tech Partnership

Kirkland & Ellis is advising private equity firm Francisco Partners on an investment to create a partnership of companies in music making and audio production.

The companies are iZotope, which designs software, plug-ins, hardware, and mobile apps for audio processing, and Native Instruments, which provides hardware and software to more than 1.5 million monthly active music creators.

EMH Partners is also backing the partnership, for which no financial details were disclosed. Cambridge, Mass.-based iZotope and Berlin-based Native Instruments will continue to operate independently, each under its current leadership.

“We both look to make it easier for engineers, producers and musicians ...