A month after recruiting former DLA Piper leader Sir Nigel Knowles, DWF has brought in a senior hand again with the hire of Addleshaw Goddard heavyweight Andrew Carpenter, who leaves a year after losing a contested election for senior partner .
Carpenter, who was latterly international divisional managing partner for Addleshaws after leading its private equity practice joins Mel Sims, formerly at DLA Piper, to beef up DWF’s London corporate offering. The hires follow the appointment of London head of corporate Matthew Doughty from Squire Patton Boggs in June 2016 and partner Alistair Hogarth from PwC Legal earlier this year.
Carpenter joined Addleshaws more than ten years ago from O’Melveny & Myers and focuses on domestic and international M&A transactions and mid-market private equity across manufacturing, healthcare, transport and infrastructure and financial services. In his role as international divisional managing partner, he oversaw the expansion of the firm’s Middle East and Asia-Pacific presence.
Commenting on his appointment, Carpenter said DWF has established a leading private equity practice in the North West. ‘Leveraging this existing platform, and taking advantage of the business’s sizable depth of resource across the UK in complementary practices such as banking, there is a real opportunity to now accelerate the development of the City practice.’
Sims, who was based in London and latterly Qatar for DLA, has advised on the £200m investment by Advent International in the Towergate Group and simultaneous refinancing of the group, including a £550m bond issue.
Addleshaws experienced a tough financial year for 2016/17 in what the firm’s managing partner John Joyce told Legal Business was a ‘a rollercoaster ride’. Profit per equity partner at the firm dropped 26% to £504,000, while turnover was down 2% to £197.8m.