Goodwin is set to hire private equity partners Anu Balasubramanian, Jamie Holdoway and Chetan Sheth from Paul Hastings, as the firm continues to expand its PE practice in the City.
Balasubramanian (pictured), who has more than two decades of experience in the practice, has been a partner at Paul Hastings since the summer of 2018.
She will join as Goodwin’s chair of European private equity, working with the M&A, debt finance and private investment funds teams in London, Paris, Munich, Brussels and Luxembourg.
Balasubramanian is a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for mid-market PE deals, and currently heads Paul Hastings’ City PE practice. She joined Paul Hastings after spending five years at DLA Piper, having previously worked at both Kirkland & Ellis and Ashurst.
Anthony McCusker, Goodwin’s chair, said: ‘Continuing to invest in our London and European private equity capability is core to our global Goodwin 2033 strategy, which sees us providing excellent legal counsel and strategic business advisory to clients across the private equity ecosystem, from fund formation, to growth, buyout and portfolio transactions. Anu has an outstanding reputation in the market.’
In the seven years she has spent at Paul Hastings’ London office, Balasubramanian has advised PE clients such as Abry Partners, Oakley Capital and Francisco Partners. With experience in complex leveraged buyouts, corporate M&A and portfolio advice, she also featured as a Legal Business deals ‘alpha’ in both 2023’s Alphas Revisited and the original 2018 feature.
Holdoway made partner at Paul Hastings in 2022, and has also worked on multiple deals for Abry Partners, including most recently as part of a team, led by Balasubramanian, that advised on the PE house’s acquisition of AA Ireland.
Sheth, whose PE practice spans exits, divestures and public M&A, joins Goodwin after 18 months at Paul Hastings where he made partner this summer. Prior to this, Sheth spent three years at Skadden as counsel.
A spokesperson from Paul Hastings said: ‘We wish them well.’
The hires represent the latest additions to Goodwin’s PE practice this year, after the firm added Travers Smith leveraged finance head Matthew Ayre and Kirkland & Ellis partner Tom Roberts this summer. Other additions in London over the past two years include Ian Keefe, George Weavil and Jacqueline Eaves.
Meanwhile, Paul Hastings has seen number of exits and additions to its City base. Those leaving include former London co-chair and Legal 500 restructuring and insolvency leading partner Mei Lian, who departed for Linklaters and infrastructure partners Jessamy Gallagher and Stuart Rowson, who left for Freshfields in February after two years at the firm. The duo had previously co-headed Linklaters’ global infrastructure practice.
Elsewhere, the firm recently added high-profile finance partner duo Corey Wright and Lisa Collier from Latham in New York, and, since April, has recruited around nine energy and infrastructure partners into its offices around the world, largely from White & Case.
Meanwhile, in London, the firm has added five partners in six weeks, as it moves to build up in practices including tax and funds.
New additions in November include tax partners Jenny Doak and Catherine Richardson, who joined from Weil and Cadwalader respectively, structured finance partner Thomas Picton, who moved across from Ashurst, with Jennifer Passagne joining from Haynes Boone. Stephen Diosi joined from Mishcon de Reya this month as London head of remuneration and incentives.
The London office is on track to increase revenue by around 20% year-on-year in 2025, a growth rate that is expected to take the office’s revenue up around 70% over two years.
