White & Case has continued to strengthen its capital markets capability bringing on London based Ropes & Gray partner Chris McGarry.
McGarry (pictured centre) joined Ropes as a partner from Weil, Gotshal & Manges in 2015. He was an associate at Clifford Chance and a vice president at RBS before moving on to Weil for three years. McGarry focuses on structured finance transactions, advising sponsors, issuers, arrangers and investors on securitisations and collateralised loan obligations including all types of asset-backed securities, residential mortgage-backed securities, trade receivables and esoteric asset classes such as commodities and TMT receivables.
Recently, McGarry advised Virgin Media on two innovative financings alongside Ropes’ co-head of global finance Jane Rogers and high-yield partner Robert Haak. The team raised £350m through the world’s first-ever issue of receivables financing notes through an orphan SPV, while the second deal was the first-ever handset securitisation seen in Europe. The transactions won the US firm finance team of the year at 2017’s Legal Business Awards.
McGarry’s other clients have included Trafigura, Shop Direct, Lloyds, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Europcar, Bain Capital Credit, Blackstone/GSO, Investec and Jerrold Holdings.
White & Case EMEA capital markets regional sector head Philippe Herbelin said: ‘Chris is an entrepreneurial, technically skilled, energetic and experienced lawyer who is held in high regard by his clients and has a growing profile in the London market. As well as building our capability in London, Chris is an excellent fit with our existing client portfolio as we continue to focus on growing our London-based financial sponsor, funds and large corporate clients.’
Last year White & Case took on capital markets partner Jonathan Parry from Ashurst. Parry made partner at Ashurst in 2010 and had since become one of the strongest partners in Ashurst’s well regarded ECM team. His client book includes London-listed fund JZ Capital Partners, New York investment bank Jefferies International and boutique investment bank Liberum Capital.
Going the other way, it was confirmed earlier this year that capital markets partner Josh Parbhu had left White & Case after 15 years.
madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk
Read more on the challenges ahead for Ropes in: ‘One man band: Can Ropes & Gray maintain the momentum without Allen?’
