EQT has appointed a select group of firms as its key global advisers, as the private equity giant looks to build closer relationships with its preferred external counsel.
Freshfields and Ropes & Gray are among those to have been selected following a review of what EQT calls its ‘global strategic relationships’, with Simpson Thacher and Clifford Chance also understood to be among the successful firms.
These firms will handle EQT’s key global M&A and funds work, with one source saying that the Swedish PE house is aiming to ‘create closer relationships with a number of firms.’
‘This is a theme across the industry,’ one partner said. ‘Private equity clients want to concentrate more work with fewer firms.’
The arrangement is less regimented than a traditional law firm panel, according to multiple sources, with one characterising it as an ‘ongoing relationship where there is mutual investment between fund and adviser’ and another calling it ‘an overarching structure.’
The new line-up of external firms is understood to be a ‘refined’ version of the PE house’s previous set-up, according to one source, with successful firms informed around the end of June.
EQT also has regional panels which typically comprise two firms but that are non-exclusive. In 2024, Freshfields and Clifford Chance won spots on its private capital panel for the UK, while US firm Milbank and leading Nordic firm Vinge are regular advisors in Germany and Sweden respectively.
Other firms that have handled work for EQT in recent years include Kirkland & Ellis, which recently led on the acquisition of a 42% shareholding in the parent company of Yorkshire Water, and Paul Weiss, which last autumn advised on its €50m investment in leading AI company Harvey.
The latest appointments come after EQT’s appointment of Josefin Nowén Wirkkala as global general counsel in July last year.
Nowén Wirkkala – who started her career at Vinge before joining EQT in 2012 – has been vocal about her desire to modernise legal work with AI.
In an article published this March, Nowén Wirkkala called AI ‘the most transformative pillar’ in EQT’s global legal strategy and ‘the shift most likely to change how legal work is delivered’.
After becoming global GC, she launched the ‘40X Return’ project – an initiative that saw 40 of its in-house lawyers build 40 AI-driven use cases.
The project has subsequently expanded to incorporate a further 40 use cases developed in cooperation with EQT’s external law firms.
On building new AI tools, she explained that EQT tests new ideas in Harvey’s controlled environment and that its law firms are ‘part of that ecosystem too, to stress-test approaches and learn together.’
This May, Legal Business revealed that Freshfields has been advising EQT on its acquisition of FTSE 100 quality assurance company Intertek, with Simpson Thacher also advising EQT on regulatory aspects.
The deal, which is expected to complete in the final quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027, will be the PE firm’s largest European transaction of the last five years, with Intertek valued at around £10.9bn.
EQT, CC, Simpson Thacher, Ropes and Freshfields declined to comment.
