With €31bn in debt having been issued through private placements (PP) in Europe in 2014, O’Melveny & Myers has made a strategic move in the sector by hiring White & Case PP specialist Andrew Weiler to heads up its European M&A and corporate finance practice.
Weiler was a key part of White & Case’s PP offering in the City and joins O’Melveny with 15 years of experience in the cross-border market. He also advised both multinationals and private equity firms on M&A and joint venture deals.
Dual-qualified in New York and England and Wales, Weiler joined White & Case in 1993 and worked in the firm’s New York, Stockholm and Helsinki offices prior to moving to London. He was made partner in 2003 and comes recommended in debt capital markets by The Legal 500, for which White & Case is ranked second tier.
Some of his recent work includes advising Coca-Cola on its formation of a Nordic joint venture with Carlsberg and its restructuring of a global joint venture with Nestle; and acting for De’Longhi on its €214m perpetual licensing of the Braun household products brand from Procter & Gamble.
The hire comes as O’Melveny looks to boost its international M&A and finance offering – though the firm lost private equity partner Daniel Oates after less than a year in its City office to Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson in January. Weiler said: ‘O’Melveny is well known for its entrepreneurial and client-centred culture. I am excited to be part of the continued growth of the firm’s transactional practices, and I look forward to working with my new colleagues to serve our clients.’
A White & Case spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm that Andrew Weiler has left White & Case. We wish him well in his future endeavours.’
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
For more on firms’ moves to position themselves in the growing PP market see: The Finance View: Private bonds – can Europe bring it home?
