Both Allen & Overy (A&O) and Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) made hires to strengthen European offices last week, while Gateley hired two partners to bolster its London offering and Arthur Cox turned in-house.
After having successfully attracted Shearman & Sterling partner Marc Plepelits to head its German US corporate finance team, A&O strengthened its six-partner German capital markets team by hiring Ashurst partner Christoph Enderstein in Frankfurt.
Enderstein, previously worked at A&O but left in 2007 for Ashurst where he became a partner in 2008. He comes with experience advising both issuers and investment banks on international debt capital markets with clients including L-Bank and Erste Group.
Meanwhile in Paris, HFW hired partner Franck Bernauer from FIDAL where he worked in the international division with a focus on M&A and corporate work within the industrial, engineering and energy sectors. Bernauer joins with an associate as the firm looks to build its Paris-based transaction practice and will also have responsibility for co-ordinating HFW’s initiatives in relation to Africa.
In London, Gateley brought in two partners, Craig Rattray from Olswang and Steven Raize from DAC Beachcroft. Raize is being brought into the corporate team as the firm looks to boost its private equity and M&A offering. Recent work has seen him advise on the Human Capital Investment Group (HCIG) sale to Graphite Capital and the take-over of Probability Plc by Gtech.
Raize said: ‘Gateley is looking to build on its existing corporate and banking & finance expertise in the City and I see my role as integral to those growth plans. The firm is geared to fully servicing the legal requirements of SME companies, PE Funds and entrepreneurs and my aim is to help secure more of the work available in my specialist areas, specifically in the recruitment and TMT sectors.’
Rattray, who has previously worked at BLP, Addleshaw Goddard and DLA Piper, joins the commercial, technology and media team with a focus on the payments value chain and the UK’s regulatory environment for payment services.
Finally, Arthur Cox also made an investment in the City with the hire of Adrian Mulryan, general counsel at Exchange Traded Fund provider Source. Mulyran will join the firm’s asset management and investment funds group which is led by Kevin Murphy, having notched up a number of firsts at his previosu role including establishing the first active ETF in Europe and the first Irish exchange-traded precious metal products.
Commenting on Mulryan’s appointment, Murphy said: ‘His extensive experience and strong track record is a great addition to our high calibre team. Adrian’s understanding of cross-border issues related to the marketing and distribution of investment products in Europe, particularly ETFs, will be a noted addition to our client offering.’
michael.west@legalease.co.uk
