Squire Patton Boggs lined up opposite Ropes & Gray as both won key roles on TPG’s £150m investment into value retailer Poundworld last month.
The US private equity (PE) house acquired a majority stake in the UK’s second-largest single-price retailer as part of a bid for accelerated expansion nationwide, with 150 stores planned over the next three years.
SLAUGHTERS AND LINKS ACT ON SANTANDER AND UNICREDIT’S ASSET MANAGEMENT TIE-UP
Slaughter and May, best-friend firm Uría Menéndez and Davis Polk & Wardwell in the US were instructed by Santander as it combined its asset management arm with Linklaters’ client UniCredit’s Pioneer Investments. The deal created one of Europe’s biggest asset managers, with €350bn under management.
Continue reading “Deal watch: Corporate activity in May 2015”
After several top 25 global firms cut backs their Moscow offerings last year, there have been signs of renewed interest in Moscow as Kennedys set up a Russian base last month through an exclusive arrangement with local firm and former Clyde & Co best friend CIS Advocates, while Chadbourne & Parke invested in a new managing partner.
Kennedys’ launch comes with the hire of former Clyde & Co Russian insurance practice head Constantin Saranchouk, along with an associate, and follows troubled markets in Russia across 2014 that saw a raft of firms scale back in the region due to international sanctions.
Continue reading “Russian market beckons for Kennedys as others continue to ‘adjust’”
In a bid to enhance its real estate offering in Central Europe, Greenberg Traurig last month recruited 12 lawyers to its Warsaw office from Allen & Overy (A&O) and Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF).
Joining Greenberg is A&O’s Warsaw real estate head Radomił Charzyński and NRF’s Warsaw real estate head Agnieszka Stankiewicz. Charzyński brings with him three others, including senior associate Karol Brzoskowski, who becomes a partner at Greenberg, and two senior associates, while Stankiewicz, named a leading individual in The Legal 500 for Polish real estate, brings with her local partner Magdalena Życzkowska-Jóźwiak, one senior associate and five associates.
I’ve always been interested in two things. One is people and that is a key part of the business. I’ve always liked the business of law and I wanted a role in the direction of the firm because I am home-grown. I’ve been here a long time – it means a lot to have some influence.
I did a history degree at Durham and I was looking at film and TV production, journalism and law. My family are pretty much all professionals – they would have been concerned if I went down the journalism or TV route.
Continue reading “Life During Law: Niri Shanmuganathan, Taylor Wessing”
New panel to broaden international reach
The legal team at ITV, led by general counsel (GC) and company secretary Andrew Garard, has launched a panel review with plans to extend its current roster of eight law firms by up to four more.
For the first time the panel will be expanded to include more of an international element, with local firms in countries such as the Netherlands – where the British company recently acquired Talpa Media – expected to be among the new additions.
Continue reading “ITV launches panel review with plans to extend roster by 50%”
WHITTAKER STEPS DOWN AS LLOYDS GC
Group general counsel (GC) Andrew Whittaker is stepping down from his role at Lloyds Banking Group with deputy GC Kate Cheetham set to replace him. Whittaker joined the bank in May 2013 after having served as the legal head of the Financial Services Authority. The bank also saw the departure of disputes chief Philippa Simmons last month and began a redundancy consultation looking at cutting up to 25 mid-level positions.
Associates are set to gain whoever wins
Law firm partners at major City firms are facing the prospect of a substantive hike in tax if the Labour Party forms a government in this month’s general election with current manifesto pledges expected to see many partners at Legal Business 100 firms with a five-figure increase in their annual tax bill.
Under Labour’s policy, the 45p rate of income tax will be raised to 50p for people earning over £150,000. According to numbers produced by Baker Tilly, this means that a partner earning £1m will pay £500,590 in income tax and national insurance – £42,060 more than the 2015/16 tax rate that currently stands at £458,530.
Continue reading “Partners at top firms to pay £42k more under Labour tax plans”
American insurance giant AIG has carried out a review of its UK-based legal panel and established a new 64-member roster to cover the company’s European operations across 12 countries.
Both reviews were carried out at the same time by the company’s Legal Operations Center. The UK panel review, which was primarily a housekeeping exercise around the 25-firm panel established in 2013, took three months, while the Continental roster took a year due to the size and volume of firms and the administration involved.
Continue reading “‘Phase two’: AIG reviews UK panel and establishes 64-strong European roster”
Goodwin Procter and Ropes & Gray launch in PE and ComLit
International firms in the City maintained their expansive form in April with three US-bred advisers unveiling UK law practice launches. The moves saw Boston’s Goodwin Procter launch a UK practice in private equity, New York’s Cahill Gordon & Reindel hire its first English-qualified partner and Ropes & Gray move into UK disputes work.
Goodwin Procter set up shop in London seven years ago looking to emulate the success of the firm’s property team in the States. But the firm recently announced its intention to compete in London’s private equity space, with the hire of King & Wood Mallesons co-head of corporate Richard Lever.
Continue reading “US firms step up in the City with new practices”
