Legal Business

Dentons boosts competition offering with BLP veteran hire

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Strategic recruitment Berwin Leighton PaisnerDentons
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Dentons has enhanced its competition and antitrust offering by appointing longstanding Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) partner Adrian Magnus to join its City practice.

The departure of Magnus, who was a founding member of BLP’s competition law team, follows the departure of BLP’s former competition head David Harrison who moved to Mayer Brown in May.

Having resigned from BLP after 21 years, Magnus will join Dentons’ four-partner competition team in London in November.

Cited as a ‘key player’ on EU and competition matters by The Legal 500, Magnus trained as a lawyer at Clifford Chance until 1991 before moving to legacy firm Paisner & Co in 1992.

Magnus advises on a range of competition law issues including UK and EU merger control, market investigations, public procurement and competition-related disputes across multiple sectors including financial services, transport, logistics, and media.

Major mandates included advising National Grid on a £275m, multi-party cartel damages claim as well as acting for BDO on the Competition Commission’s market investigation that led to the mandatory tendering of audit services. He further served a six-month stint as a secondee to the Financial Conduct Authority in 2013 to work within its competition department.

Dentons UKMEA chief executive, Jeremy Cohen, said: ‘Competition law is one of the most international and rapidly developing areas of legal practice, with increasing alignment throughout the world, new competition authorities in emerging markets, and ever-increasing international co-operation between competition authorities. The scope of Adrian’s work and the breadth of his experience will be a real asset to the firm.’

BLP has seen some senior moves in recent months, losing a four-strong process management team to Herbert Smith Freehills this month. However, it did launch a US securities practice in the City with the recruit of Proskauer Rose partner Katherine Mulhern and Bank of America Merill Lynch director Bobby Schrader in June.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Clyde & Co continues arbitration push with Berwin Leighton Paisner hire

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Strategic recruitment Berwin Leighton PaisnerClyde & Co
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Clyde & Co has hired Berwin Leighton Paisner’s co-head of arbitration and energy specialist Richard Power as it continues to develop its global arbitration group. 

Power, who joins as partner, has more than 15 years’ experience in energy industry disputes and his practice involves complex cross-border matters in the energy sector. He also has expertise in outsourcing, commercial banking and insolvency-related disputes.

According to the Legal 500, which recommends Power for international arbitration, ‘he has a long track record of resolving disputes at an early stage using alternative dispute resolution and especially mediation.’

Clyde & Co co-chair of arbitration Peter Hirst said: ‘The fall in the oil price has caused much disruption in the energy sector. Cancellation of contracts, coupled with geopolitical instability and growing regulation further increases the prospect of disputes arising. With Richard on board, supported by the firm’s global network, we will be even better equipped to service our clients.’

In June the firm’s senior partner James Burns told Legal Business the decision to form an international arbitration group to target commercial disputes had seen the practice grow by 40% in the last year.

In the past 18 months Clyde & Co has hired a string of partners to the global arbitration group including including June Yeum (New York & Asia), Patrick Zheng (Beijing), Christopher Jobson (Abu Dhabi), Brian Dunning (New York) and Prakash Pillai (Singapore).

While the firm has been one of the fastest-growing in the UK in recent years with revenues growing 8% to £395m in 2015, it reviewed its London corporate practice recently after losing a series of substantial mandates to rivals.

The review started at the end of last year and has since seen four partners leave, three of whom resigned in recent months, including one partner that was separately headhunted by a major US firm in what will be regarded as a loss to the firm.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

BLP boosts Berlin practice by six with lateral hires from Orrick

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Strategic recruitment Berwin Leighton PaisnerOrrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
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Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has hired two partners, Norbert Impelmann and Albrecht von Breitenbuch, along with four other lawyers from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe for its Berlin office.

The hires aim to bolster BLP’s real estate and infrastructure practice in Germany, and follow the appointment of nine legal staff into BLP’s Hong Kong office earlier this year to boost its property practice.

Impleman was Orrick’s office leader in Berlin and head of the firm’s real estate practice group in Germany, while Albrecht was also a partner in Orrick’s Berlin office. Albrecht was a member of the firm’s real estate group and spearheaded Orrick’s technology practice for startups and venture capital investors.

As well as the two partners, senior associate Katharina von Rosenstiel, managing associate Ruben Pisal and associates Henning Bigalke and Maxim Gnatjuk will join, along with four support staff.

The team’s integration into the Berlin office will be led by Roland Fabian, managing partner of BLP Germany and a member of the firm’s board.

Fabian said there was huge potential for BLP in Germany as it was a highly active real estate market. ‘By strengthening our German team, we will ensure that we are at the forefront of this activity and have the best team possible to take advantage,’ he said.

In April this year, US firm Orrick said it would cut its German network by half, and would close is Frankfurt and Berlin offices.

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Trainee retention: CC keeps on 96% of trainees as three of BLP’s cohort take places internationally

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Trainee retention Berwin Leighton PaisnerClifford Chance
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Clifford Chance (CC) has revealed a trainee retention rate which outpaces its Magic Circle rivals to have announced so far with the firm keeping on 96% of its cohort. Meanwhile Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) managed a rate of 71%.

All 45 of the trainees offered positions by CC, out of the initial intake of 47, decided to accept positions with the firm – giving it an autumn 2015 retention rate ahead of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Slaughter May. Freshfields revealed a rate of 83% earlier this month with 40 out of 48 taking positions at the firm, Slaughters meanwhile kept on 89%.

Last year, CC kept on just 75% of its autumn qualifiers with 40 staying at the firm out of a 53-strong cohort.

Meanwhile, BLP revealed that it has kept on 17 trainee with 14 staying in London and three taking positions at international offices. Real estate is seeing the largest intake of newly-qualifieds with seven joining in London, two in Abu Dhabi and one in Berlin. The rest of the cohort is split between corporate and disputes which are taking three apiece and one lawyer who is qualifying into BLP’s tax practice.

Anthony Lennox, BLP partner and training principle said: ‘At BLP we are always looking to recruit and retain the best talent which will help the firm continue its growth. We’ve offered this year’s trainee intake contracts across a range of our practice areas which is pleasing. It is also great that three of our trainees have accepted contracts in Berlin and Abu Dhabi which reaffirms our commitment to offering exciting opportunities across our international offices.’

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

City moves: BLP looks to broaden insurance offering with Clyde & Co’s Quirk

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Strategic recruitment Berwin Leighton PaisnerClyde & Co
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Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has boosted its insurance practice and expanded its regulatory offering by recruiting Clyde & Co’s leading insurance partner Geradline Quirk.

Listed in The Legal 500 as a leading individual for insolvency and restructuring, Quirk brings over 18-years of experience with her to the new role and having been made up to partner in Clyde & Co’s corporate insurance team in 2008.

She will be tasked with improving BLP’s non-contentious insurance and financial services regulatory offerings as she joins its insurance/reinsurance team headed up by Anthony Lennox and Jonathan Sacher.

Quirk’s practice covers UK and EU insurance regulation, particularly focusing on business transfers under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act, solvent schemes of arrangement, and cross-border mergers. She works with both life and non-life insurers as well as reinsurers, brokers and intermediaries with past clients including Euler Hermes, PwC, R&Q, AXA and Enstar.

Commenting on the new hire, Sacher said: ‘Gerry is a market leader within the sector in a number of specialist areas, particularly insurance transfers, and her appointment will play a key role helping us broaden the scope of our capabilities in this field. Her sector experience and reputation will be invaluable in ensuring that we can offer our clients advice across a full range of legal issues relevant to their business.’

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

BLP, A&O and Ashurst get the gig on Lone Star’s £700m takeover of Wembley Arena owner

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Corporate Allen & OveryAshurstBerwin Leighton Paisner
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Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Allen & Overy (A&O) have taken the lead roles on US private equity firm Lone Star’s £700m acquisition of Wembley Arena-owner Quintain Estates and Development.

The agreement sees Lone Star’ bid company Bailey Acquisitions Limited, which is indirectly controlled by the firm’s Real Estate Fund IV, offer around £700m in cash for the property developer that has substantial land owning in Wembley Park and planning permission for 5,500 homes.

BLP advised Quintain having previously worked on its £186m disposal of interests in the Greenwich Peninsula. Its team was led corporate finance partners Nick Myatt and Alex Latner with support from Dylan Mackenzie and Cath Shirley while client relationship partner and BLP chairman Robert MacGregor gave real estate advice to the group that floated in 1996 and David Dennison covered incentives.

A&O’s team also built on its relationship with client Lone Star, having previously acted on its acquisition of Moorfield Funds I and II in December 2014 and on its Jury’s Inn buy in January this year. Its team was led by corporate partners George Knighton and Annabelle Croker, real estate finance partner Arthur Dyson and real estate partner Chris Woolf.

Knighton commented: ‘We are delighted to be working with Lone Star on another large transaction in the real estate sector. On this transaction we deployed a full team with expertise covering public takeovers, acquisition finance, real estate and tax issues.’

The bid company received financial advice from Morgan Stanley which saw Ashurst pick-up an additional role advising the bank. Its team was led by corporate partners Karen Davies and Tom Mercer with finance advice given by Mark Vickers and Tim Rennie.

Lone star’s bid for the £60m turnover company involves a cash offer of 131p per Quintain share – a 22.4% premium on the 28 July closing price. The deal is being partially financed by a £425m term facility with Wells Fargo.

michael.west@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Dealwatch: Ashurst and BLP gifted roles on Nutella-maker Ferrero’s takeover bid for Thorntons

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Corporate AshurstBerwin Leighton Paisner
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LB100 firms Ashurst and Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) have both landed leading roles advising on the recent £112m takeover bid by Italy’s Ferrero International for British confectioner Thorntons, after the latter suffered falling profits and the resignation of its chief executive.

Ferrero International, the maker of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, was advised by BLP corporate finance partner Cath Shirley, with corporate specialist Alan Paul advising as a consultant. The firm’s head of anti-trust & competition Andrew Hockley also advised alongside partner James Marshall on EU competition law while pensions & incentives partner David Dennison is providing advice on the Thornton’s share option scheme and partner Gary Richards advised on tax issues.

Ashurst, meanwhile, took the mandate advising Rothschild, which served as financial adviser to Ferrero, in relation to the transaction with corporate partner Tom Mercer leading.

Announced this morning (22 June), Ferrero made a cash offer of 145p per Thorntons share. The deal follows the resignation of Thorntons chief executive Jonathan Hart last month following months of falling profits. Following the bid by Ferrero, which also makes Kinder Eggs and Nutella, shares for the troubled confectionary chain soared by 42%.

Commenting on the offer, Thorntons’ chair Paul Wilkinson said: ‘Ferrero is offering our shareholders an attractive premium to the average price of Thorntons’ shares over the last three months. Although the prospects for Thorntons as an independent company remain strong as the company embarks on the next phase of its strategy, the board of Thorntons also recognises the potential benefits to the brand and the business, including employees and all stakeholders from combining with the Ferrero Group.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

BLP launches US securities team with BAML director and former Proskauer partner

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Strategic recruitment Berwin Leighton PaisnerProskauer Rose
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Berwin Leighton Paisner has made a double hire to start a US securities group in the City, hiring former Proskauer Rose partner Katherine Mulhern and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) director Bobby Schrader.

Mulhern and Schrader, who both join BLP as partners, will provide US securities advice crucial to the firm’s M&A, funds and structured debt offerings and represent a step-forward for the firm in building its corporate finance practice.

Schrader started at the firm after a decade working for BAML. During that time Schrader has had stints as counsel to the EMEA equity capital markets division and the global research business in London. He leaves the investment bank after having climbed to be assistant general counsel and director.

Mulhern, who will join the firm on 1 September, has stayed in private practice and brings experience of building US securities practices. She helped to establish Hogan Lovells’ EMEA US securities practice in the late 2000s and co-founded Proskauer Rose’s European capital markets practice in 2012.

Mulhern, who was of counsel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer before making partner by moving to Hogan Lovells, counts the London Stock Exchange and investment banks JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch as clients. She is currently acting as interim executive director at the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa after departing Proskauer Rose after just two years in January.

The duo, who take the number of corporate finance partners at the firm to 27, bring a book of contracts across the City’s investment banking outfits as BLP seeks to ramp up its coverage of underwriters executing transactions. The hires follow the firm’s appointment of financial regulation specialist Martin Sandler, who spent 10 years as head of the legal team at BAML on the advisory and public sell side.

Lisa Mayhew, managing partner at BLP, said: ‘There is a small pool of talented individuals in this particular marketplace but in Bobby and Katherine we have two people of high calibre with diverse experiences that give us the ability to advise clients at every level of the value chain in respect of capital market transactions in London.’

Mulhern added: ‘With the solid foundation already in place at BLP, I will look to strengthen existing relationships, bring in new contacts to the firm, and with the strong ECM team already in place, win additional work.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘A personal decision’: BLP’s David Collins resigns after missing out on top job

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Leadership Berwin Leighton Paisner
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Just five months after making the final two to succeed Neville Eisenberg as managing partner at Berwin Leighton Paisner, corporate chief David Collins has resigned from the firm.

Longstanding partner Collins stood against Lisa Mayhew in the leadership battle at BLP following Neville Eisenberg’s decision late last year to step down as managing partner after 16 years at the helm. Mayhew, running on a ticket to modernise the firm, ultimately triumphed and succeeded Eisenberg on 1 May.

Collins resignations comes after 20 years at the firm, the last two years of which he has spent running the firm’s corporate group, controlling the corporate finance, funds and financial services, employment and EU, competition and trade practice groups. He also heads the firm’s betting and gaming sector group and is a member of BLP’s mining and metals sector team.

Collins, who has held a string of management positions during his time at BLP, is now on sabbatical until the 31 October, at which point he will no longer be a partner at the firm. He controlled a large amount of business at BLP, with his list of clients including Liberum Capital, Numis and Westhouse Securities, CMC Markets, Galleon Holdings, Playtech and Xchange Technology Group.

One partner at the firm told Legal Business that Mayhew was looking to refresh the leadership positions within the firm, and that Collins was no longer guaranteed to continue as corporate head. Longstanding disputes head Jonathan Sacher has already been replaced by high-billing Nathan Willmott in what amounts to a refreshing of the firm’s management since Mayhew’s election to managing partner.

While no partnership vote is needed to elect a new corporate chief, BLP management is currently consulting with the group’s partners over Collins’ replacement.

Current co-head of corporate finance, Benjamin Lee, is believed to be the frontrunner for the role, with one senior source at the firm stating that he is seen as being ‘more punchy’ than his fellow co-head Michael Anderson. Lee has a broad corporate practice based on M&A and equity capital markets work and also advises companies on London-based listings. A decision on the next corporate chief is set to be announced within the next fortnight.

A spokesperson for the firm said: ‘We can confirm that David has made a personal decision to retire from BLP at the end of October. After 20 years at BLP we thank him for his loyalty, dedication and commitment during his time at the firm. We will announce shortly who will replace him, following proper consultation with the corporate partners. David leaves with the corporate finance group having hit both revenue and profit targets in the last financial year.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Financials 2014/15: PEP soars by 22% at BLP as turnover rises to £259m

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Financial results 2014/15 Berwin Leighton Paisner
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The first top 20 UK firm to announce its 2014/15 financial performance, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has posted a 6% rise in turnover to £259m as its profit per equity partner (PEP) jumps 22% to £659,000.

Between financial years 2013/14 and 2014/15, revenue has grown by £13m from £246m to £259m but PEP jumped by £117,000 from £542,000 to £659,000 as the firm improved its profitability. In addition, the firm said it had paid off the £27m in debt it had at the end of the last financial year and now had positive cash balances of £12m.

The buoyant results, which largely stem from standout performances by the firm’s real estate, commercial dispute resolution and finance groups, come on the back of a 6% rise in revenue and even higher 35% jump in PEP during the 2013/14 financial year. BLP also reported that its corporate finance team benefitted from strong deal activity.

Standout mandates for the firm last financial year include advising the London Legacy Development Corporation on the transformation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park into a huge residential area and Haversham Holdings on its £1.2bn takeover of British Car Auction. BLP made five lateral hires in the last financial year, including the recruitment of Bob Charlton to head its Asia practice after holding a similar role at DLA Piper.

Lisa Mayhew (pictured), who took over from Neville Eisenberg as BLP’s managing partner in May, said: ‘Growth in Real Estate and Infrastructure sector work, our contentious businesses and transactional work are the bedrocks to this success, but overall our great financial performance is the result of ensuring that our clients are at the heart of everything we do.’

Mayhew added: ‘We continue to listen to our clients so that we remain focused on providing a high quality service leveraging off our abilities to work differently using our Manchester office and other enterprise businesses to meet our clients’ needs now and in the future.’

Earlier this year, BLP spin-off Lawyers On Demand welcomed a 42% jump in revenue to £12m, with its recently launched On Call service for remote transactional work boosting the coffers.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk