The brisk trade in private equity partners continues in the City with news today (15 March) that Shearman & Sterling has hired Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ experienced corporate partner Mark Soundy.
Soundy is joined by fellow Weil Gotshal partner Sarah Priestley, a corporate tax specialist focusing on private equity and hedge funds. Associate Simon Burrows will also move over from Weil to Shearman as partner.
At Weil Gotshal, the trio worked closely with private equity partner Jeremy Dickens who joined Shearman’s New York office in April.
Soundy moved to Weil in 2004 from Travers Smith Braithwaite and has focused on M&A, private equity and restructuring for more than 25 years. Clients include Silver Lake, Bridge Capital and Apax and he has particular experience in media deals. such as advising Apax Partners and HiT Entertainment on the $680m sale of HiT Entertainment to Matte.
Shearman’s EMEA managing partner, Nick Buckworth, told Legal Business that the addition of the private equity team ‘adds a bit of rocket fuel to the tank’.
He added: ‘We are delighted to boost our European PE practice with the addition of such a high quality team. They combine very well with our existing platform in London and, with the recent addition of Jeremy Dickens in New York, will be instrumental in helping drive our global PE business.’
The addition of this trio will help Shearman looks set to establish a private equity offering in London that up until now has been run single-handedly by corporate partner Jeremy Kutner.
Shearman is the latest firm to make a significant play in private equity in the City, following the hire of former global head of private equity at Clifford Chance, David Walker, by Latham & Watkins last month.
david.stevenson@legalease.co.uk