Legal Business

After a patchy 2013 and a high-profile finance departure, can Weil sustain its City momentum?

legal-business-default

Tom Moore assesses the recent upheaval at Weil and talks to City head Francies about its ambitions

Life has never been dull at the City arm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, but even those familiar with the firm’s eventful run since its launch in the mid-1990s turned their heads at the departure this summer of Stephen Lucas for Kirkland & Ellis. The former Linklaters partner, whose exit came shortly before his three-year guaranteed pay package expired, had been regarded as highly successful at building a deal finance team at Weil.

Legal Business

Weil, Gotshal & Manges pays out multi-million pound settlement over professional negligence claim

legal-business-default

Weil, Gotshal & Manges has paid over £3m to settle a professional negligence claim made against it in late 2013 by private equity house Bancroft.

The case was set to be heard before the commercial court last month but the US firm agreed a confidential settlement that Legal Business understands to be between £3-5m.

Bancroft purchased a 94% stake in Slovakian ice cream company Frost for £6.6m but did not have voting control of the company, which lead to a £10m claim against the firm’s legal advisers Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Slovakian lawyer Jozef Maly.

The private equity group had argued that Weil Gotshal private equity partner Ken Schiff, who is no longer with the firm, failed in his client duty by not adequately translating and explaining foreign law documents, resulting in the firm lacking any voting control.

Maly, rather than his Slovakian law firm, was sued as under Slovak law lawyers are sole practitioners and thus firms have no liability. Bancroft never made a payment to Maly directly for his role in the deal, that cost coming under the fee it paid to Weil, and the claims against him were also resolved in the settlement. The settlement also covered what Legal Business understands are significant legal fees accrued by Bancroft in making the claim.

The size of the settlement is an endorsement of former Linklaters duo, Mark Humphries, who headed up the Magic Circle firm’s advocacy unit, and Kristopher Kerstetter, of boutique litigation firm Humphries Kerstetter. Enlisted by Bancroft, the firm is now handling Tesco’s claim against MasterCard and Visa for overcharges the food retailer alleges is a breach of EU and UK competition law. 4 New Square’s Nicholas Davidson QC had been instructed by the claimants.

Weil instructed Ashurst’s head of dispute resolution Edward Sparrow, who worked alongside Weil’s US-based general counsel Mindy Spector and London partners. Sparrow had instructed Hardwicke’s joint head of chambers Nigel Jones QC. Maly was advised by partner Andrew Quick of Guildford-based boutique Stevens & Bolton.

Tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Paul Hastings and Weil Gotshal & Manges lead on German bank acquisition

legal-business-default

US firms Paul Hastings and Weil, Gotshal & Manges have won lead roles on the OCEAN Holding acquisition of German mortgage bank Düsseldorfer Hypothekenbank, from the US investor Lone Star, in what is the largest German bank takeover since the economic downturn.

Paul Hastings’ team advised the buyer and was led by Frankfurt partner and office chair Christopher Wolff, alongside corporate associates Christian Mock, Friederike Schröder and Fritz Kleweta, and of counsel Uwe Halbig on tax issues.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges advised Lone Star in the sale, with corporate partner Uwe Hartmann leading out of Frankfurt, alongside tax partner Jürgen Börst and corporate partner Heiner Drüke.

OCEAN Holding, managed by Dr Patrick Bettscheider and Attestor Capital, bought the German bank which has €12bn in assets, from LSF5 German Investments II LP, Delaware, and LSF5 Riverside Ltd. & Co. KG, – two companies of the Lone Star Group.

The Lone Star Group first acquired the bank in 2010 with the injection of over more €500m since then to strengthen the bank’s core capital position. The purchase agreement is subject to approval by the regulatory authorities.  

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Another partner exit at Weil’s London office

legal-business-default

Weil Gotshal & Manges’ head of European high yield Gil Strauss has become the most recent prominent partner to leave the firm, after several high profile London office exits within the last year, with his decision to re-join Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

The move to his former firm marks Strauss’ third big move over the last four years having joined Weil’s London office last year as a partner in the European high yield team from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which he had joined in 2010 from Simpson Thacher.

Strauss specialises in US securities laws and has experience working for both private equity sponsors and underwriters on high yield bond offerings, restructurings, initial public offerings and corporate finance transactions.

Some of his recent deals at Weil include advising lenders to Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking on the acquisition of Flint Group, and representing Aston Martin on its issuance of $165m high yield PIK notes.

The decision to leave Weil comes within months of banking chief Stephen Lucas leaving the firm for Kirkland & Ellis. Other recent departures include corporate partner Mark Soundy’s move to Shearman & Sterling, funds partner Nick Benson’s move to Latham & Watkins in January this year, and tax partner Brenda Coleman who left to join Ropes & Gray’s tax and benefits department.

In March this year, Legal Business unveiled a drop in Weil’s 2013 revenue of 7.4% to $1.14bn from $1.23bn, while PEP was down to $2.07m from $2.23m in 2012.

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Weil Gotshal heads H1 global private equity table as DLA Piper enters top 20

legal-business-default

Weil Gotshal & Manges has come out on top of the latest H1 private equity league tables in a top 20 which also includes DLA Piper, driven by a strong performance on the Continent and after a series of notable hires in the area.

Weil Gotshal leads Bloomberg’s announced private equity deals table by value – ahead of Latham & Watkins in second place and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in third – with 46 deals worth a combined $56.8bn for the first six months of 2014.

The Wall Street firm was ranked ninth during the same period of 2013, this year boosted by instructions including from CCMP, Providence Equity Partners, THLee and Quadrangle on the €7.2bn sale of Spain’s largest cable broadband provider Ono to Vodafone in March. Other notable deals included acting for Baring Private Equity Asia on a $3bn deal to take private Chinese online gaming group Giant Interactive, which was previously listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

US firms dominate the table as the value of global M&A involving private equity firms rose from $214bn during the first half of 2013 to $319bn during the first six months of 2014, with 13 US firms making the top 20.

Latham was involved in $40bn worth of deals with a deal count of 62 to justify its second place ahead of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, which advised on 45 deals worth $36bn.

The results reveal improved rankings among the Magic Circle, with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer ranked fourth, having led on 43 deals worth $36bn, up from sixth position this time last year. Rival Clifford Chance rose eight places to sixth after having been instructed on 30 deals worth a combined $28bn, and Linklaters, which lost private equity co-heads Ian Bagshaw and Richard Youle to White & Case last year, handled 36 deals worth $26bn, rising from nineteenth to seventh.

However, according to the table the Magic Circle trio all lost market share.

Weil’s London-based co-head of international private equity, Marco Compagnoni told Legal Business: ‘A number of our key clients have been very busy over the last year and these results show that the private equity deal space has been strong for a while now. The US law firms are increasingly the ones dominating that market as they have the true international reach and the ability to handle all types of financial structure, not least ones involving the US debt markets.’

DLA Piper, meanwhile, was boosted by a buoyant Spanish office led by partner Juan Picon, who advised Vodafone on its takeover of Ono. The firm, which came in at number 17 with 30 deals worth a total of $12.8bn, advised British private equity firm Bridgepoint in its €450m acquisition of French automotive parts maker Flexitallic Group at the start of May.

The past year has seen DLA hire private equity heavyweight Tim Wright from King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin and launch a private equity group in Australia after the hire of Bryan Pointon from Gilbert + Tobin as its Asia Pacific corporate head.

David Raff, a private equity partner at DLA Piper, told Legal Business: ‘We’ve had a very good year in terms of volume and value, partly because of very good teams in France and Spain, as well as new hires in the US and Australia. International reach is increasingly a problem for UK firms due to the internationalisation of deals taking place. It’s not just about having offices, it’s about having private equity expertise in those offices.’

Tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving Doors: HSF’s Rosen QC returns to the Bar; laterals for Weil Gotshal; Simmons; Rosenblatt and Payne Hicks

legal-business-default

The latest standout lateral moves have seen Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF) former advocacy chief Murray Rosen QC return to the Bar, as Weil Gotshal & Manges boosts its City finance practice, Simmons & Simmons expands in Bristol, with further partner hires at Rosenblatt Solicitors and Payne Hicks Beach.

Rosen, former advocacy head of HSF, is to join 4 New Square in September. He joined HSF in March 2005 from 11 Stone Buildings to launch its advocacy unit and co-manage the team alongside Ian Gatt QC, who joined the firm from Littleton Chambers the following month. Gatt will continue to head the advocacy unit.

Rosen resigned from HSF in January 2014, announcing he would leave in April and return to the Bar, at which time HSF looked to Maitland Chambers for a rare silk hire, appointing Tom Leech QC as a partner in its City advocacy group.

Rosen’s hire will be a further boost for 4 New Square, which recently turned to White & Case for the hire of partner Paul Cowan, who joined the set after 11 years as partner at the US firm in London.

In his new role, Rosen will resume practice as an arbitrator, mediator and senior advocate. Rosen was appointed as a QC in 1993. He has experience of advising on cross-border commercial, fraud and offshore disputes.

Rosen said: ‘I am pleased to be joining 4 New Square, which is a diverse and forward-thinking set in the areas which most interest me. I see this as a great opportunity to extend my practice as an arbitrator and mediator, whilst continuing as advocate and consultant in commercial Chancery and sports and media work.’

Meanwhile, Weil, Gotshal & Manges has boosted its City finance practice with the hire of banking partner Reena Gogna who leaves Latham & Watkins after eleven years.

Gogna focuses on advising lenders and sponsors on acquisition finance transactions with a particular focus on bank and bond structures. She joined Latham in 2003 and was a solicitor at Slaughter and May before then.

The hire follows the departure of one of the best-known names in the leverage buyout market, banking head Stephen Lucas, who left Weil’s City practice to join Kirkland & Ellis in May.

The recruitment also follows some key recent hires including restructuring heavyweight Andrew Wilkinson from Goldman Sachs who joined Weil in April, and Hogan Lovells partner Chris McLaughlin who joined the firm’s banking and finance practice in January.

Gogna’s addition will boost the firm’s banking team further, which currently houses around 40 lawyers. One of her recent deals includes representing Mersin International Port in relation to the $450m project debt refinancing for the joint venture between Turkey’s Akfen Holding and Singapore’s PSA International, in connection with Turkey’s first infrastructure bond.

London managing partner Mike Francies said: ‘We are delighted Reena is joining the team. Her experience acting for lenders and sponsors is a perfect fit with our growing finance practice, which has some of the best leveraged finance, high yield and structured finance partners in the London market. In the last week alone we have received instructions on a number of new matters reflecting the strength of the team and the depth of the partner bench. Reena will only make that stronger.’

Another recent move saw Simmons & Simmons expand its Bristol-based corporate practice with partner Jocelyn Ormond who joined from DAC Beachcroft. Ormond joined DAC Beachcroft in 2006 from Allen & Overy, where he was an associate.

Ormond has experience of advising corporate and commercial matters, with a focus on M&A and equity fundraisings, covering the life sciences, healthcare and financial services sectors.

Simmons & Simmons corporate and commercial international practice head Mark Curtis said: ‘Jocelyn Ormond’s arrival marks a further milestone in the expansion of our corporate practice. His extensive experience of M&A and equity fundraisings for life sciences and other healthcare companies and financial institutions and on cross border matters will be invaluable to our international practice.’

Meanwhile, Rosenblatt Solicitors recruited Caroline DeLaney as a partner specialising in real estate disputes and Bruno Fatier as a partner specialising in financial services.

DeLaney joins from Kingsley Napley, which she joined in 2012 and headed the real estate disputes practice. Prior to this, she worked in the same role at CMS Cameron McKenna in 2000. She has experience in commercial property, residential and agricultural disputes, and acting for institutional investors, high net-worth individuals, retailers, public bodies and insolvency practitioners.

Fatier was at Clifford Chance in Paris for the last 13 years, and comes with experience of covering financial services including general banking, derivatives, market infrastructure and asset freeze.

Separately, Payne Hicks Beach hired Rosamond McDowell as a partner and Andrew Dixon as a consultant from Collyer Bristow. Both will join the firm’s private client department which currently houses seven partners, one associate and two solicitors.

McDowell specialises in tax and estate planning for individuals, families and trustees, onshore and offshore on contentious and non-contentious matters. Dixon has experience in UK and international taxation and trust and estate law. His clients include land owners, executives and partners, whom he advises on assets such as land, shares and securities and heritage property.

Managing partner Peter Black said: ‘Our private client team is experiencing increasing demand from both a domestic and international client base, and Rosamond and Andrew’s arrival further increases our capabilities. We are delighted that they join us at such an exciting time in the development of the team, and Payne Hicks Beach more widely, as we look forward to strong growth in the next 12 months and beyond.’

Legal Business

Weil’s City banking head Stephen Lucas joins Kirkland

legal-business-default

One of the best-known names in the leverage buyout market, Stephen Lucas, is set to join Kirkland & Ellis from Weil, Gotshal & Manges, where he heads the Wall Street firm’s City banking practice.

Lucas handed in his resignation last month and leaves Weil Gotshal just three years after he joined in June 2011 from Linklaters, where he was a banking partner. Prior to that, he was a partner at Magic Circle rival Clifford Chance.

He will be replaced as banking head at Weil by former Hogan Lovells partner Mark Donald.

Legal Business

‘We’ve got 40 finance lawyers left’ – Weil’s City banking head Stephen Lucas joins Kirkland

legal-business-default

One of the best-known names in the leverage buyout market, Stephen Lucas is set to join Kirkland & Ellis from Weil Gotshal & Manges, where he heads the Wall Street firm’s City banking practice.

Lucas handed in his resignation this week and leaves Weil Gotshal just three years after he joined in June 2011 from Linklaters, where he was a banking partner, prior to which he was a partner at Magic Circle rival Clifford Chance.

He will be replaced as banking head at Weil by former Hogan Lovells partner Mark Donald.

Lucas leaves Weil Gotshal’s banking team with six partners – two of which are structured finance specialists and four leveraged finance partners – and a team of around 35 associates.

The top 20 Global 100 firm’s City practice has seen some key departures over the last year, including private equity partner Mark Soundy and City tax head Sarah Priestley, who exited to Shearman & Sterling.

However, Weil Gotshal’s London managing partner Mike Francies told Legal Business: ‘We have got 40 finance lawyers left and they will continue to provide clients with a top quality service. We are very confident of Mark’s abilities of leading the group.’

Lucas will join Kirkland’s debt finance practice group with 10 years’ experience of advising sponsors, financial institutions, and funds and has previously represented Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Barclays Bank, Citibank, Deutsche Bank and HgCapital.

Last year he advised UBS, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Barclays, on the financing for The Carlyle Group’s acquisition of Chesapeake’s paperboard packaging business, and in October 2012 represented Advent International in its leveraged buyout of KMD from Swedish financial investor EQT Partners AB and ATP Private Equity Partners.

‘Stephen is widely recognised as among the top finance lawyers in London. He is a brilliant, hard-working lawyer and strategic thinker, and a significant addition to our already strong and very active European debt finance group,’ said Jeffrey Hammes, chairman of Kirkland’s global management executive committee.

Jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Transatlantic Weil and Milbank teams advise on circa €2bn Flint acquisition; A&O launches Primark in the US

legal-business-default

Weil, Gotshal & Manges London, German and New York banking teams have advised the lenders on Goldman Sachs and Koch Industries’ acquisition of Flint Group from CVC Capital Partners for a purchase price reported to be more than Flint’s 2013 revenue of €2.2bn, as a transatlantic Allen & Overy (A&O) team assisted Primark on its launch into the US.

The acquisition of Flint, a global supplier of inks and other print consumables, also handed out lead roles to Hengeler Mueller for CVC; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy for Goldman Sachs; and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett on the purchasers’ debt financing.

Goldman Sachs’ merchant banking division partnered with Koch Equity Development, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, to acquire 100% of the share capital of Flint Group, which operates from 137 sites in 40 countries and employs around 6,600 people.

Weil advised the lenders to Goldman Sachs: Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley as lead arrangers, and Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Barclays as joint bookrunners.

Weil’s multi-jurisdictional team comprised London banking partners Chris McLaughlin, Stephen Lucas and Gil Strauss, Munich banking partner Tobias Geerling and associate Wolfgang Sϋss, and New York banking partners Dan Dokos, Doug Urquhart, Morgan Bale and Danek Freeman.

German firm Hengeler Mueller meanwhile advised London-headquartered CVC with a team out of Munich and London led by corporate and M&A partners Hans-Jörg Ziegenhain and Steffen Oppenländer respectively.

Also advising are Düsseldorf-based partners Thorsten Mäger and Dirk Uwer on antitrust and regulatory issues, while Frankfurt-based partner Alexander Rang along with counsel Axel Gehringer advised on finance issues.

Milbank also formed a tripartite German, London and New York team for Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking, led by Munich-based corporate partners Peter Nussbaum and Michael Pujol, New York corporate partner John Franchini, and Frankfurt-based partners Andrea Eggenstein and Rainer Magold who advised on corporate and banking and finance issues respectively.

London partners Stuart Harray and Suhrud Mehta are advising on corporate and leveraged finance issues respectively.

Also advising are Munich-based competition partner Alexander Rinne, tax partner Dale Ponikvar and investment law partner Eric Moser, both based in New York.

A Simpson Thacher team led by Jennifer Hobbs is representing Goldman Sachs and Koch on the deal’s debt financing.

Elsewhere, A&O represented Primark on the budget clothes retailer’s entry into the US with the launch of a 70,000 sq-ft flagship store in Boston, which will open towards the end of 2015.

A&O global corporate chairman Richard Cranfield advised the Associated British Foods (ABF) subsidiary on the UK aspects of the deal, while a team in the US was led by real estate partner Kevin O’Shea and real estate senior counsel Alan Schacter, assisted by corporate partner Eric Shube.

Shube has previously advised ABF on the private placement of a series of multimillion-dollar senior notes as well as ABF North America Holdings on the sale of food ingredients business of SPI Polyols to Corn Products International in 2007.

francesca.fanshawe@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Weil Gotshal hires restructuring heavyweight Wilkinson from Goldman Sachs

legal-business-default

It has long been renowned as the top restructuring shop in the US but Weil, Gotshal & Manges was a late entrant to Europe’s work-out scene. As such the New York-bred law firm has taken a headline-grabbing step to take its City practice ‘to the next stage of growth’ with the hire of Goldman Sachs heavyweight Andrew Wilkinson, who is to join the firm at the end of April.

The hire was confirmed to Legal Business this morning (7 April) by Weil’s London managing partner Mike Francies; Wilkinson was voted in by the Weil partnership on Friday (4 April).

He will join from Goldman Sachs, which he joined as a managing director in 2007.

Before his move into banking Wilkinson was one of the City’s most prominent insolvency lawyers, having led the restructuring group at Clifford Chance and pioneered a ground-breaking and highly lucrative bondholder-focused practice at the London branch of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft between 1997 to 2007.

His appointment to Weil marks a decisive move by the firm to boost its status as a prominent bankruptcy legal adviser. Other hires by the firm to its restructuring practice in recent years includes Jones Day’s restructuring head Adam Plainer in 2011. Weil helped put its City restructuring practice on the map with a lead advisory role on the UK administration of MF Global, an instruction that helped the firm to be named Restructuring Team of the Year at the 2014 Legal Business Awards.

Other mandates the firm has handled in Europe include ongoing restructuring work for Lehman Brothers, Pfleiderer’s cross-border financial restructuring and the €2bn debt restructuring of PagesJaunes-owner Mediannuaire.

The hire demonstrates that Weil is still primed for growth in its City arm, which in 2013 achieved 4% revenue growth to £75.8m, despite a series of layoffs primarily in its US practice last year.

The investment comes as a number of firms are targeting the busy restructuring market, as many European companies look to take advantage of low interest rates to refinance debt burdens.

Francies commented: ‘Andrew’s arrival will enable us to continue to build on the excellent work of Adam Plainer and his team in London. His skills as both a lawyer and a banker will be instrumental to the further development of our elite restructuring practice.’

Sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

For more on the leading US firms’ assault on the City, see Global London – Sweeping the board