Ashurst finance partner Simon Thrower has quit to join Simmons & Simmons’ City practice within days of the announcement that corporate partner Nigel Stacey is leaving for US firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Thrower is leaving the top 20 firm after 15 years as a partner, after he joined the firm as a senior associate in 1996. Before this, he was a solicitor at Allen & Overy for eight years.
At Ashurst, Thrower was a member of the European banking group and specialised in domestic and international finance transactions, with a focus on corporate and leveraged acquisition finance, syndicated corporate debt facilities and debt restructuring.
He recently advising Johnston Press on its £360m capital refinancing plan in May, and advised the lenders – HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&G Investments, Rabobank International, London Branch and Santander UK – on the refinancing of Caffé Nero worth £278m.
Thrower is the sixth partner to leave Ashurst in recent months following Stacey and Jonathan Earle’s move to Gibson Dunn; fellow finance partner Nick Benham who joined Davis Polk & Wardwell to launch the US firm’s English law finance practice; and corporate head Stephen Lloyd and private equity partner Karan Dinamani who joined Allen and Overy.
A spokesperson at Ashurst said: ‘Simon is a hard-working lawyer who has made a significant contribution to the banking practice since he joined the firm. We wish him well.’
