Ropes & Gray has continued to expand in Italy with the hire of a new private equity partner into its recently launched Milan office.
Fabrizio Scaparro is joining from Italian firm Giovannelli & Associati – which he co-founded in 2013 – alongside PE counsel Paolo Pagani.
He advises on a range of private equity deals, both domestic and cross-border, including leveraged buyouts and minority investments in public and private companies, acting for both financial sponsors and multinational corporates.
He also has experience in debt restructurings and IPOs. Prior to founding Giovannelli he spent time at firms including Simpson Thacher, Ashurst and Pavia & Ansaldo.
Giovannelli is currently ranked in Tier 3 for private equity in Italy by Legal 500, where Ropes is recognised as a firm to watch.
Since Ropes launched its Milan office in September last year with a three-partner team from Latham & Watkins, led by the well-regarded Cataldo Piccarreta, the firm has also added corporate partner Alessandro Capogrosso from PedersoliGattai.
The hire of Scaparro means the office now has 13 lawyers, according to the firm’s website, including partners Giorgia Lugli and Luca Maranetto, who also joined from Latham.
Piccarreta, who is primarily based in London, said: ‘Fabrizio is very experienced with an impressive track record, and we are incredibly happy that he will lead, together with Giorgia, Alessandro and Luca, our private equity team in Milan. The arrival of Fabrizio and Paola adds further depth to the team’s capabilities.’
The hire is the latest in a series of European PE plays from Ropes, which saw the firm establish its first continental office in Paris early last year. Since it tapped Clifford Chance partner Fabrice Cohen to lead its French outpost, the US firm has made a total of five more partner hires in the city, with two more partners joining from Linklaters in February and a trio moving from Latham last month.
Ropes’ European PE practice is co-led by four partners across the London, Paris, and Milan offices, with John Newton and Libby Todd in London, Piccarreta and Cohen meeting weekly to ensure the offices act as a single platform. This focus on Europe reflects increasing flows of US capital, with the firm following clients including top-level sponsors, funds and PE houses investing in the continent.
‘When you look at who is acquiring and investing in Europe, it’s consistently a handful of global funds. You’ve got to be very aware of how they’re expanding and constantly trying to match it,’ Newton previously told LB.
The last two years have seen a number of firms establish or consolidate their presence in Milan, with Fieldfisher opening an independent office there in 2024 after cutting ties with its Italian partner firm, while Bird & Bird expanded with two finance partners from Hogan Lovells, which in turn recruited from Orrick and White & Case. Latham has been in the Italian city since 2008.
