Shearman & Sterling’s global private equity head Mark Soundy is to depart the firm after a three year stint.
Soundy moved to the firm from Weil, Gotshal & Manges in 2013 as Shearman looked to establish a private equity offering in the City. He joined the US firm along with Sarah Priestley, a corporate tax specialist focusing on private equity and hedge funds. Associate Simon Burrows also moved over from Weil to Shearman as partner at the same time.
London-based Soundy focuses on UK and international M&A work, and has advised a number of institutional investors, international businesses and senior management teams. His client base includes APAX Partners, Bridgepoint, GMT Communications and HgCapital/Mercury. He resigned from the firm last week.
Meanwhile, leveraged finance partner Arnaud Fromion, based in Shearman’s Paris office, is also set to leave the firm.
Earlier this year, New York-based Jeremy Dickens, the co-head of private equity left for McDermott Will & Emery after three years at Shearman.
In 2016, Shearman’s London office again outperformed the rest of the firm, though only by a small margin, with revenue up 3% to $149m. Deals carried out by the London office last year include two mandates for cable company Liberty Global, advising on its $8.2bn purchase of Cable & Wireless Communications and its investment in Lions Gate Entertainment, and a role advising the underwriters on ABN Amro’s €3.8bn IPO at the end of the year, the largest ever Dutch privatisation.
Over the past five years the City office has grown by 43% and accounted for 17% of the firm’s global revenue last year.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
