Legal Business

Second Ashurst partner exit this week as disputes specialist Giaretta joins Mishcon de Reya

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Strategic recruitment AshurstMishcon de Reya

Ashurst has seen its partner bench further diminished with the departure of disputes stalwart Ben Giaretta to Mishcon de Reya.

Giaretta – who joined Ashurst in 1999 – was made up to partner in 2009 and headed its Asian arbitration team out of Singapore for seven years. He moved back to the firm’s London office last year.

The move is a further knock to Ashurst, which has also lost two corporate partners to US firms in London since the end of October.  Earlier this week, Dominic Ross left for White & Case, following James Wood’s announced departure to Sidley Austin on 30 October.

Giaretta joins Mishcon in 2018 and will be focused on commercial arbitration.

Kasra Nouroozi, partner and head of the dispute resolution department at Mishcon de Reya, said Giaretta’s ‘focus on commercial arbitration is the perfect complement to our existing strength in investor-state work, as developed by Karel Daele over the past few years”.

A spokesperson for Ashurst said: ‘Strengthening the international arbitration practice even further is a key priority for the firm. We have a very strong bench of arbitration talent in all regions at all levels and under the leadership of global head of international arbitration, Matthew Saunders, we are confident that the team will continue to achieve great results’.

Other recent Mishcon laterals include restructuring and insolvency partner David Leibowitz and real estate litigator Joanna Lampert, who were both snapped up from Berwin Leighton Paisner in April. It is the current Legal Business Law firm of the Year, having posted the strongest organic revenue growth of any Legal Business 100 firm over the past decade.

nathalie.tidman@legalease.co.uk

For analysis of Ashurst’s aim of reviving its corporate practice, read: ‘Deal view: Ashurst strives to reboot M&A brand but deal market is getting tougher’

Legal Business

Ashurst sees second City corporate departure to US firm in as many weeks

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Corporate Ashurst

Ashurst’s beleaguered M&A practice has received a fresh blow as corporate partner Dominic Ross departs for the City office of White & Case.

Ross’ exit from Ashurst’s corporate practice marks the second in as many weeks to a US firm in London after it was announced that partner James Wood would join Sidley Austin in London two weeks ago (30 October).

Ross was one of 20 partners made up at Ashurst in April 2015 having worked there as an associate since March 2005.  His start date at White & Case is to be confirmed.

Meanwhile, Wood had been a partner at Ashurst for two years having previously been a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for 14 years. He joined Freshfields as an associate in 1996.

John Reiss, head of White & Case’s global M&A practice, described Ross’ hire as part of the firm’s ambition to ‘build a truly market leading public M&A practice in London, in line with our 2020 growth strategy. The importance of London as a financial and legal centre, and of English law for cross-border M&A deals, continues despite Brexit.’

Ross will focus on corporate finance and M&A, having advised both listed and private corporate clients on M&A, equity capital markets and complex deals involving UK public companies.

White & Case last year redoubled its efforts to become a corporate powerhouse in London having made two high-profile partners from City firms. Hogan Lovells’ heavyweight corporate partner Guy Potel was enlisted in May 2016 and Patrick Sarch, who had been a corporate partner at Clifford Chance, was considered a significant coup when he was hired in October 2016.

Allan Taylor, White & Case’s regional section head, EMEA M&A/corporate, described Ross as having ‘a strong reputation in the market and established relationships with UK corporates and leading investment banks in London. He strengthens our English law M&A team in London and will play a key role as we continue to build our UK plc practice and expand our public M&A and advisory capabilities.’

On the corporate practice, the Ashurst spokesperson said: ‘Our London corporate team goes from strength to strength, advising on a roster of fantastic deals for both longstanding and new clients. We have performed exceptionally well and we will continue to do so throughout the remainder of the financial year.’

Nathalie.tidman@legalease.co.uk

For comment on Ashurst’s corporate practice, read ‘Deal view: Ashurst strives to reboot M&A brand but deal market is getting tougher’

Legal Business

Deal view: Ashurst strives to reboot M&A brand but deal market is getting tougher

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Corporate Ashurst

Ashurst’s once-admired M&A reputation has taken a pounding of late. One former partner delivers representative sentiments: ‘Corporate was the jewel in the crown. The firm has changed from what it was six or seven years ago.’ Another notes: ‘It used to be joint number one with Clifford Chance for private equity. The practice faded away as it focused outside London.’

A controversial Australia merger, a soft run of financial performance and the loss in recent years of prominent partners has taken a major toll on its brand as a serious plc deal adviser.

That is not to say that Ashurst has not boasted some solid deals recently. Corporate partners Karen Davies and James Fletcher this year led for AVEVA Group on its £3bn tie-up with Schneider Electric’s industrial software business.

Corporate infrastructure specialist Logan Mair is also credited with securing a new mandate to advise Berendsen on its £2.17bn takeover bid by Elis, taking advantage of a new chief executive to shift the client from Slaughter and May’s clutches. There were also meaty mid-market deals for Shanks Group and Cape.

But £1bn-plus deals in a lead corporate capacity are still relatively rare. Neither is there much comfort in the latest Mergermarket stats. On deal volumes for European M&A, which should be a solid proxy for Ashurst’s business, the firm is not ranked in the top 20 for the first nine months of 2017 (it does better under Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg research).

What is unclear is the extent to which Ashurst is keeping traditional plc work at the heart of its business.

There is more obvious progress in equity capital markets and bank roles. Recent mandates include advising the banks on John Wood Group’s £2.3bn acquisition of Amec Foster Wheeler, and Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse on Vantiv’s £9.3bn merger with Worldpay. There is also substantive bank work in 2017 on Tullow Oil’s $750m rights issue and Glenveagh Properties’ float.

No-one is pretending the firm’s already bruised reputation in private equity has not taken another major knock with this year’s five-partner Paris raid by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and it is conceded that its continental deal practice needs substantial work. While its buyout ambitions have been scaled right down, Ashurst maintains that its City M&A practice has never been in stronger form.

What is unclear is the extent to which the firm is keeping traditional plc work at the heart of its business or if Ashurst intends to reinvent itself as an industry house, securing deal work in target sectors – the Norton Rose option if you are feeling kind or Pinsent-Masons-with-better-banking-contacts if you are not.

Strategic hires last year from Herbert Smith Freehills of Nick Elverston and Amanda Hale as partners in Ashurst’s TMT group were noteworthy additions, with technology being an increasingly-fruitful sector for the group. Funds, energy, infrastructure and real estate are likewise talked up as core sectors.

Corporate veteran Robert Ogilvy Watson notes that 2017/18 is on course to be a second year of recovery, and is adamant that Ashurst will expand its plc client base in its core turf in the UK and Australia in the years ahead. That is a very tall order in an increasingly-crowded and price-sensitive deal market, but then that is what it is going to take to reboot its proud brand.

nathalie.tidman@legalease.co.uk

See our March piece: Ashurst Paris corporate team chooses Freshfields as Magic Circle firm reinvigorates offering

Legal Business

Deal view: Ashurst strives to reboot M&A brand but deal market is getting tougher

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Comment Ashurst

Ashurst’s once-admired M&A reputation has taken a pounding of late. One former partner delivers representative sentiments: ‘Corporate was the jewel in the crown. The firm has changed from what it was six or seven years ago.’ Another notes: ‘It used to be joint number one with Clifford Chance for private equity. The practice faded away as it focused outside London.’

A controversial Australia merger, a soft run of financial performance and the loss in recent years of prominent partners has taken a major toll on its brand as a serious plc deal adviser.

Legal Business

Ashurst pulls the plug on ill-fated 2009 move into US finance law with NY restructuring

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Restructuring Ashurst

Five New York-based partners left Ashurst in July for US finance firm Chapman and Cutler, with a sixth partner departing for Allen & Overy (A&O) last month.

Partners Patrick Quill, David Nirenberg, Steven Kopp, Doug Bird and Tom Glushko all left Ashurst, completing the full departure of the ten-partner team the firm hired from McKee Nelson in 2009 to launch a structured finance practice.

Legal Business

Never waste a crisis as Ashurst and Hogan Lovells step in amid Bell Pottinger’s administration woes

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Adviser reviews AshurstHogan Lovells

As scandal-ridden PR agency Bell Pottinger collapses into administration, Ashurst, Hogan Lovells and Mishcon de Reya have swept in to take advisory roles during the aftermath.

Ashurst is acting for Bell Pottinger’s administrators, BDO, with a team consisting of corporate partner Bruce Hanton and restructuring partner Olga Galazoula. Ashurst had previously represented Bell Pottinger in 2012 when founder Lord Bell acquired the PR company back from its parent company Chime. Hogan Lovells is advising the agency’s biggest lender, Lloyds Banking Group.

The administration of the high-profile agency is directly linked to a widely criticised campaign in South Africa. The agency rapidly collapsed after the publication on 4 September of a report by Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), the day after Bell Pottinger chief executive James Henderson resigned. The report criticised the agency for creating potentially racially divisive material targeted towards ‘wealthy white South African individuals or corporates’.

Since the report was published, both Pinsent Masons and Berwin Leighton Paisner have announced that they were discontinuing their relationship with Bell Pottinger, which had a number of law firm clients. The company, which rapidly became one of the City’s dominant communication firms after its launch in the buccaneering 1980s, has around 100 staff in the UK.

Meanwhile, Mishcon has been primed to advise two former Bell Pottinger partners who are weighing up their options to sue their former employer, according to press reports, though the firm refused to confirm its role.

The notice of intention for Bell Pottinger to appoint administrators was filed on 8 September, but came into effect on 12 September. None of the company’s subsidiaries outside the UK are in administration, and they will continue to trade under the control of separate management teams.

A spokesperson for BDO said: ‘Following an immediate assessment of the financial position, the administrators have made a number of redundancies. The administrators are now working with the remaining partners and employees to seek an orderly transfer of Bell Pottinger’s clients to other firms in order to protect and realise value for creditors.’

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Deal Watch: Third time lucky for Links and Ashurst on software bid as HSF puts PR shop into the headlines

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Corporate AshurstHerbert Smith FreehillsLinklaters

Given the steady hum of deal activity over the summer, the crucial September period has yet to take off with a flurry of big ticket M&A, but Linklaters, Ashurst and DLA Piper are among firms handling prominent work this week.

The largest deal to hit Europe’s market this week has seen Linklaters and Ashurst advising on the combination between British company Aveva and France’s Schneider Software to create a £3bn tech group. Linklaters’ corporate partner Aisling Zarraga and capital markets partner Richard Good are heading the team for Schneider, a long-time client of the firm with the City giant advising parent group Schneider Electric in 2013 on its £3.3bn takeover of UK engineering group Invensys. Ashurst, meanwhile, fielded a contingent under corporate partners Karen Davies and James Fletcher for the Cambridge-based Aveva. The deal is expected to complete by the end of the year.

Schneider will take a 60% stake in Aveva, injecting £550m in cash into the British company, which will go to shareholders, and £100m on its balance sheet. The remaining 40% of the listed company will stay in the hands of public shareholders.

This is the third combination attempt between the two companies. Linklaters and Ashurst previously worked on a possible deal in the summer of 2015, but talks were called off in December. Negotiations held the following year also led to nothing. The parties involved cited a complex combination, which required extracting Schneider Software from parent group Schneider Electric to combine the business with Aveva.

Linklaters’ Good told Legal Business: ‘We are very proud to be part of this deal, which will create a global leader in the industrial technology sector.’

Ashurst’s Davies added: ‘It is fantastic to achieve after three attempts. It is a great deal for the industry and a great deal for Ashurst. It represents the culmination of a great deal of hard work and collaboration between the Aveva and Ashurst teams over a number of years.’

Elsewhere, DLA Piper is working with supermarket chain Nisa on its possible sale to the Co-op for a reported £140m. Co-op has not instructed any external legal adviser yet, but has confirmed it has entered exclusive talks with the convenience store chain and is carrying out the due diligence for the acquisition.

Aside from transactional work, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has acted on the most high profile contentious mandate to hit the headlines this week, after writing a critical report on the activity of leading City PR shop Bell Pottinger. Published a day after Bell Pottinger chief executive James Henderson resigned, the report was critical of the PR firm’s handling of controversial campaign in South Africa on behalf of Oakbay, a holding company owned by the Gupta family. The report, which was published on Monday (4 September), found the campaign had created potentially racially divisive material targeted towards ‘wealthy white South African individuals or corporates’. Henderson himself had commissioned HSF to produce the report over the summer.

marco.cillario@legalbusiness.co.uk

Legal Business

Ashurst to lose five remaining New York structured finance launch partners to US firm

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US firms AshurstChapman and Cutler

Five New York-based partners are to leave Ashurst for US finance firm Chapman and Cutler, completing the full departure of the ten-partner team the firm hired from McKee Nelson in 2009 to launch a structured finance practice.

Collateralised loan obligation (CLO) partners Pat Quill, David Nirenberg, Steve Kopp, Doug Bird and Tom Glushko will all leave Ashurst this week, after originally arriving as part of a 30-lawyer finance team which included ten partners in 2009. The deal gave Ashurst a presence in both New York and Washington DC.

The five-partner exit, the last of the ten partners to leave, follows the departure of Scott Faga and Eugene Ferrer for Paul Hastings in 2015, and Alice Yurke, Richard Davis and Michael Voldstad who each left between 2011 and 2015.

Ashurst global head of finance Helen Burton (pictured) attributed the departure to a ‘lack of alignment with the wider global finance business.’

Burton told Legal Business: ‘We don’t have a global CLO business anymore. The CLO market is a cyclical business.’

In a statement, Ashurst managing partner Paul Jenkins said that ‘the CLO practice is less relevant to our global structured finance practice’ and also confirmed that the firm will not look to replace the team.

‘The departures to Chapman and Cutler will not be detrimental to the profitability of our US or global business. We are pleased with the success we have had in our funds finance and infrastructure practice and we see real prospects for growth and investment in these areas’, Jenkins added.

Ashurst has lost a number of key partners in recent months, with the firm’s Paris office losing a four-partner team to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher earlier this year.

Litigation and restructuring partner Jean-Pierre Farges left alongside fellow disputes partners Pierre-Emmanuel Fender and Eric Bouffard, corporate partner Bertrand Delaunay and finance counsel Amanda Bevan.

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘Exciting times’: Ashurst elects three new board members after mixed year

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Leadership Ashurst

The Ashurst partnership has elected London partner Karen Davies and Sydney partners James Marshall and Barbara Phair to its 10-member management board for three years, in a year marked by revenue growth and some partner exits.

The three new board members will replace London-based Angela Pearson and Australian partners Jennie Mansfield and Roger Davies, the first three to be appointed since Ashurst merged with Australia’s Blake Dawson in 2013.

Pearson, Mansfield and Davies will conclude their terms in November, leaving the body’s regional representation unchanged.

Karen Davies joined Ashurst in 2011 and became a partner in 2012, working on corporate finance transactions and specialising in mergers and acquisitions.

‘The firm is going through exciting times and I wanted to be part of it,’ she told Legal Business.

Restructuring, insolvency and special situations partner Marshall joined the firm in 1989 and the partnership in 1997.

Phair, who moved to Ashurst in 1986, has been a tax partner in its Sydney office since 2000.

The three will join chairman Ben Tidswell, vice-chairman Mary Padbury and managing partner Paul Jenkins on the board.

With four partners from Australia and four in the UK and Europe, representation is split between the firm’s City base and Australian office.

The remainder of the board is formed by Munich partner Bernd Egbers and London-based Jason Radford, who took up their appointment in November 2016, alongside two independent board members, Robert Gillespie and David Turner, who joined in 2013.

The board election comes after a financial year marked by a return to revenue growth after three years of decline, and a number of Paris partner exits.

In its 2016/17 financial results, Ashurst recorded an improvement its revenues by 7% to £541m, with an 11% boost to its profits per equity partner (PEP) to £672,000.

This year’s results followed two years of falling revenues and profitability after the Australian merger. The firm saw a 10% decrease in 2015/16 and of 4% in 2014/15.

Revenues and profits are still below pre-merger levels, when the firm recorded revenues of £568 and PEP at £801,000. Partner headcount, however, dropped by 23 in 2016/17 to 386, a 6% dip.

Davies was positive tone about the firm’s prospects, anticipating revenues will return to pre-2013 levels in the not too distant future.

‘We have been through a turbulent period but now we are on the up. We are back to business as usual and I am not anticipating any other partners will leave,’ Davies said.

In June, a four-lawyer team from Ashurst’s Paris arm went to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, four months after five Paris partners departed to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

In August 2016, the firm’s partnership voted through changes to its remuneration system in a bid to retain top partners.

Ashurst added an extra 10 points, worth around £150,000, to the top of the equity ladder, which starts at 25 points. It now plateaus at 75 points, while the bottom remains unchanged. The firm also introduced a performance-based bonus pool for both equity and non-equity partners.

Marco.cillario@legalbusiness.co.uk

Legal Business

Santander appoints firms including Slaughters and Ashurst to UK legal roster

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Adviser reviews AshurstSlaughter and May

Spanish banking giant Santander has appointed a host of firms including Slaughter and May, Ashurst and Reed Smith to its UK legal panel for three years.

Eversheds Sutherland and Taylor Wessing are also on the new roster, following a review managed by Santander subsidiary Aquanima.

Santander needed panel firms to work across nine practice areas including M&A, consumer finance, non-contentious regulation, contentious regulatory, capital markets, real estate finance and real estate, Legal Business understands.

One partner from a City firm re-selected to the panel told Legal Business that the process was very straightforward, ‘refreshingly so.’

The Spanish bank ‘wanted to make sure the firm had the right expertise across the areas they are looking for, and only chose firms who ticked the boxes in all areas they needed work in.’

‘Then we had a straightforward meeting with them on pricing, our offer on secondments – which are very important to them – value we can add, how we can work with them on things like pro-bono, training and thought leadership’, the partner added.

The City parter told Legal Business that it was ‘also good [Santander] abandoned the idea of Dutch reverse auction, which some banks still use,’ adding that the bank avoided having different panel tiers for different type of work, which some banks still do.

Legal counsel John Collins, the bank’s director of legal, compliance, regulatory affairs and anti-money laundering, leads the 35-strong legal team at the bank.

Collins is a new addition to the team, having joined in 2016 from Royal Bank of Scotland where he was general counsel (GC), after less than a year.

Last November, Legal Business reported that Bank of Ireland’s GC had moved on from the role after three years to serve as Santander’s chief operating officer and senior counsel for legal and regulatory.

Santander last carried out a legal panel review in 2014. The bank is currently reviewing its global legal panel, run by general secretary and board secretary Jaime Perez Renovales at the bank’s headquarters in Madrid.

Kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk