With US leadership previously announcing intentions to boost the firm’s New York bench, Clifford Chance has today (3 February) confirmed the hire of DLA Piper’s Gianluca Bacchiocchi as a partner in its banking and finance practice in the Americas.
Having joined from the Chicago office of DLA Piper, Bacchiocchi will be based in New York but will continue to spend a significant amount of time on the ground in Latin America. Bacchiocchi focuses on sponsors, issuers and underwriters undertaking cross-border capital markets transactions across Latin America, including project bond financings, public and private issuances of asset-backed securities, future-flow backed securities and high-yield. Recent mandates include the development and financing of the $5.4bn Metro Linea 2 in Peru.
Also a former lawyer at Mayer Brown and Greenberg Traurig, Bacchiocchi’s arrival to the firm’s Manhattan office brings the number of CC partners in the Americas to 73, and constitutes the third lateral hire made by the firm in the region in recent months.
In December CC recruited a five-strong team from beleaguered US firm Bingham McCutchen to its Washington DC office, led by partners Robert Gross and William Cejudo, in a bid to enhance its US structured finance and real estate finance offering. The firm’s US leadership recently told Legal Business of its intention to upscale its offering in the Americas, and is actively looking to recruit fresh talent across all levels, from associate to partner level.
The firm’s Americas regional managing partner Evan Cohen said: ‘The continued development of our presence across the Americas – both in the US and Latin America – remains an important point of emphasis for Clifford Chance. Gianluca’s recruitment fits perfectly with what we’re trying to accomplish. The experience and creativity he brings will be invaluable to our clients as we continue to expand our regional footprint.’
‘Access to capital markets, whether for greenfield or take-out financings, is now in every client’s playbook,’ added Fabricio Longhin, co-head of the firm’s Spanish Latin America group. ‘Gianluca is widely acknowledged as a leader in that field and we are delighted to welcome him into our Latin American team.’
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
