Amid a quiet month for the lateral recruitment market in London, Addleshaw Goddard made the most significant play, bolstering its City banking practice with the hire of leveraged finance partner Peter Crichton from US firm McDermott Will & Emery. Well known in the deal community, Crichton joins Addleshaws’ active mid-market practice led by Alex Dumphy.
Crichton’s career as an acquisition finance lawyer saw him act for AIB, HSBC, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander on Caledonia’s acquisition of the drinks business Liberation Group in 2016 and AIB, HSBC and Santander on the refinancing of the Jockey Club. He has spent around 16 years advising on the debtor side of the loan markets and specialising in leveraged finance, becoming partner at DLA Piper and CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang before joining McDermott before the three-way merger took effect in 2017.
‘Crichton’s appointment really takes leveraged finance forward at the firm,’ Dumphy told Legal Business. Amanda Gray, finance and projects division managing partner at Addleshaws, added: ‘The leveraged finance market is becoming increasingly fractured with an ever-growing number of lenders, and we have seen a proliferation in debt funds. [Crichton’s] appointment provides necessary bandwidth to win new market share across the broad spectrum of this market, as well as additional resource to combine with our award-winning private equity team on sponsor-side transactions.’
‘Crichton’s appointment really takes leveraged finance forward at the firm.’
Alex Dumphy, Addleshaw Goddard
Dumphy said the firm is looking to increase the volume of hires in its City banking practice and firm-wide. Last month, the UK top-20 outfit said it was gearing up to open its first continental European office in Hamburg – its sixth office outside the UK – with a five-partner team hire from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. Last year Addleshaws expanded its Asia presence by bringing in the former Asia head of legacy Berwin Leighton Paisner Bob Charlton to lead its operations.
Revenue for the 2017/18 financial year was up 23% to £242m from £197m, while profit increased 36% to £87m. Since 2012/13, Addleshaws’ revenue has increased 45%, while profit is up 68% over that same period. The financial results were improved by the inclusion of its Scottish merger with HBJ Gateley – a £20m firm which formally combined with Addleshaws on 1 June 2017 – but also includes organic growth, with England up 11%, Scotland 9% and the foreign exchange-impacted international arm 7%.