Partner exits: NRF corporate partner Cathy Pitt and head of climate change Hobley move on

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Top 10 LB100 firm Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) has said goodbye to two further senior partner departures as longstanding London-based corporate finance partner Cathy Pitt last month (January) moved to CMS Cameron McKenna to head up its investment management funds group, while the firm’s global head of sustainability and climate change Anthony Hobley left to join the Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI) as its first chief executive officer on 1 February.

Having spent 18 years at the 2,647-lawyer firm, Pitt was involved in corporate finance work within the asset management practice, including the establishment of investment funds and corporate advisory work. She also spent seven months on secondment as a legal advisor to financial institution HSBC in 2006, followed by a stint as interim head of group legal at insurer Prudential in 2010.

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More lateral hires as Katten Muchin and K&L Gates boost international corporate practices

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US firms Katten Muchin Rosenman and K&L Gates have strengthened their international corporate practices this month through lateral hires from rival Global 100 firms.

Hogan Lovells’ private equity partner Philip Watkins has quit the firm to join US firm’s Katten Muchin’s London office.

He joined Katten Muchin Rosenman at the beginning of the year, along with two associates who will join the Chicago-headquartered firm’s London base next month. Watkins joined legacy firm Hogan & Hartson’s City corporate practice in November 2008.

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Latham sets pace for 2014 as expansive City arm hires Weil private equity partner

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For many watchers of the upper reaches of City law, Latham & Watkins has in recent years established a profile as one of the most upwardly mobile players in London, a reputation the US-based giant has moved to underline early in 2014 with the recruitment of Weil, Gotshal & Manges funds partner Nick Benson.

The move is the fifth partner hire for Latham’s City arm within the last 12 months and a further high-profile addition to the 600-partner firm’s UK buyout practice after the recruitment last April of Clifford Chance’s (CC) private equity head David Walker, which was followed up in October with the appointment of fellow CC partner Tom Evans. Continue reading “Latham sets pace for 2014 as expansive City arm hires Weil private equity partner”

International markets – Addleshaw hires third partner in Hong Kong and rebrands to Francis & Co

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Having launched in Hong Kong last summer, Addleshaw Goddard has forged ahead with a number of developments in the region including adding a third partner, Daniel Wan, and rebranding following the arrival of Nigel Francis at the end of 2013.

Wan, who joins from Jun He and previously worked at Herbert Smith Freehills, specialises in M&A and equity capital markets, particularly pre-initial public offering (IPO) investment and restructuring and post-IPO regulatory and compliance matters.

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Ashurst delves into Magic Circle for Linklaters DCM partner as Beddow named corporate co-head

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Ashurst has tapped into the magic circle in a bid to strengthen its finance practice, hiring Linklaters debt capital markets (DCM) partner Francis Kucera to its City-based securities and derivatives practice.

In his new role, Kucera will strengthen Ashurst’s DCM offering in the emerging markets. He joins a two-partner team – including former Linklaters’ colleague Stephen Edlmann who joined in 2010 and Clifford Chance senior associate Derwin Jenkinson, who joined as a partner in January this year. The team is led by Anna Delgado, who joined from Allen & Overy ten years ago.

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H1 2013/14: Nabarro points to pick up in corporate and real estate amid flat half year results

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Nabarro has posted flat half year (H1) revenues for the 2013/14 year, with figures rising by a marginal 0.3% from £52.3m to £52.5m, the firm announced yesterday (4 December).

Speaking to Legal Business, senior partner Graham Stedman (pictured) attributed the static results to a ‘quiet August and September’ but noted the firm has experienced a ‘pickup in real estate and corporate.’

He added: ‘As you come out of recession, although the market is still challenging, you would expect the non-contentious parts of the firm to pick up and that’s what we’re seeing now.

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Corporate caution as private equity acquisitions and IPOs trickle in

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A wary optimism was the prevailing mood of private equity partners in October, as deals such as the $2.2bn acquisition of Vion Food Group’s gelatine-making subsidiary, Vion Ingredients by private equity house Darling International demonstrated that there is appetite, and funds, for the right kind of asset.

Texas-based Darling used K&L Gates and Clifford Chance (CC), while the Netherlands’ Vion was advised by leading Benelux independent De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.

K&L Gates fielded an international team, led by Dallas corporate partner Mary Korby and including Frankfurt-based corporate partner Mathias Schulze Steinen and London competition partner Scott Megregian. Continue reading “Corporate caution as private equity acquisitions and IPOs trickle in”

Revolving Doors: SJ Berwin corporate heavyweight Harris to Hogan Lovells as Bingham and Bond Dicks make key hires

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Just weeks away from its merger with King Wood & Mallesons, SJ Berwin corporate heavyweight Ed Harris is leaving for Hogan Lovells as Bingham McCutcheon also raids Jones Day to build its London competition team and Osborne Clarke’s remaining two-partner private client team joins Bond Dickinson.

Harris, who will move across to Hogan Lovells on an unknown date as a result of ongoing negotiations with management, has been at SJ Berwin since 2007 and has advised a number of high profile clients including Terra Firma, Pantheon Ventures Investindustrial, EQT, Actavis and Constellation Software Inc. Continue reading “Revolving Doors: SJ Berwin corporate heavyweight Harris to Hogan Lovells as Bingham and Bond Dicks make key hires”

Linklaters private equity ambitions dealt a blow by departure of Bagshaw and Youle

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Linklaters‘ now decade-long effort to carve a credible position in the private equity market has been dealt a serious blow as co-heads Ian Bagshaw (pictured) and Richard Youle leave to join White & Case.

The high profile pair, long-term friends having started their careers together at Eversheds, had to build the Magic Circle firm’s private equity practice almost from scratch after the departure of Graham White and Raymond McKeeve in 2007, although it has been an enduring irony that their own reputations in private equity exceed that of the firm. Continue reading “Linklaters private equity ambitions dealt a blow by departure of Bagshaw and Youle”

Great bright hopes – searching out the City rainmakers of 2020

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Who will be the next generation of corporate heavyweights that top City firms will rely on to drive their businesses in the decade ahead? Legal Business canvassed a wide group of deal veterans to identify the ones to watch.

It is often said that the best of the City’s M&A partners were battled-hardened and defined by the early 1990s recession. That formative experience is often argued to have helped refine the skills and ethos of the select band of M&A heavyweights that dominated the City legal market through the last 15 years.

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