Legal Business

Expansion mode: HSF reopens in Saudi Arabia with new association

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Middle East and Africa Herbert Smith Freehills
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In its third office opening in a year, following on from launches in Düsseldorf and Johannesburg, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has reopened in Saudi Arabia through a local association.

HSF has entered an exclusive association with corporate-focused Saudi firm – the Law Office of Nasser Al-Hamdan – and bolstered the launch with partner hires from White & Case and DLA Piper.

Its new association firm is run by managing partner Nasser Al-Hamdan, a corporate lawyer specialising in capital markets transactions who becomes a HSF partner through the tie-up. He established the firm just 18 months ago after seven years as general counsel at a Riyadh-based investment management firm Jadwa Investment.

Adding further firepower to the launch, HSF has also hired projects partners Euan Pinkerton from White & Case in Riyadh and Anthony Ellis from DLA Piper in Dubai. Based in Riyadh since 2011, Pinkerton advises on the financing and development of projects, including Islamic finance. Ellis spearheaded DLA Piper’s push into large-scale power, water and process plant projects mandates in the Middle East and Africa.

Riyadh is HSF’s third Middle East office, with of eight partners and 31 lawyers working out of its Dubai and Doha offices. The move follows a turbulent period for the firm in the region, arriving five months after shutting down its Abu Dhabi office and three years after terminating its association with Saudi Arabian firm Al-Ghazzawi Professional Association (GPA).

The firm’s Middle East head, Zubair Mir, said: ‘Saudi Arabia is the only Arab nation belonging to the G20, has the largest projects market in the Middle East and is in the process of diversifying its economy, modernising its infrastructure and creating jobs. Our association with Nasser Al-Hamdan, which brings a leading corporate capability into Saudi Arabia, and the hire of projects partners Euan Pinkerton and Anthony Ellis, are therefore important steps for the firm.’

Sonya Leydecker, co-chief executive at HSF, added: ‘Together with our recent launches in Johannesburg and Düsseldorf, this will be our third major investment in strengthening the firm’s presence across the EMEA region, a key focus for the firm to provide clients with a truly global offering.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

The specialist court the City needs

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Litigation Herbert Smith Freehills
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Herbert Smith Freehills’ Tim Parkes welcomes the overdue launch of London’s financial court but warns of the dangers of test cases

Not before time, the English court system will soon add to its stable of specialist courts a Financial List, to deal with major banking and other financial disputes. This is a positive illustration of the English courts not resting on their laurels as a pre-eminent venue for commercial dispute resolution but taking active steps to ensure that they meet the needs of financial markets users and enhance London’s status as a global financial centre.

Legal Business

‘Naturally a key market’: HSF launches in Düsseldorf with former CC hire

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Europe Herbert Smith Freehills
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Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has boosted its German capability with the launch of an office in Düsseldorf – its third base in Germany, and hired former Clifford Chance (CC) arbitration partner Thomas Weimann.

The firm is focused on expanding its German network, and will extend its offering in corporate, IP and competition law in Düsseldorf. The new office will target German blue-chip clients and international corporates, including Japanese and Chinese companies.

Weimann will be based at HSF’s Frankfurt office until the Düsseldorf base opens in early 2016. He will be joined by competition, regulation and trade partner, Michael Dietrich and his team who will be relocating from Frankfurt.

Weimann was at CC for 24 years and headed its Düsseldorf arbitration and litigation practice. He has particular expertise in post M&A arbitrations and disputes concerning plant construction, industrial engineering and civil construction projects. He is also president of the Chinese European Legal Association and board member of the Hamburg-based Chinese European Arbitration Centre.

HSF German head, Ralf Thaeter said: ‘Opening in Düsseldorf underlines our commitment to expanding our German offering. Since first opening in Germany in 2013, we will soon have ten extremely talented partners operating across the nation’s financial, regulatory and corporate capitals.’

HSF co-chief executive Mark Rigotti added: ‘As Europe’s largest and strongest economy, Germany is naturally a key market for the firm, especially in light of our strategy to grow our EMEA platform, which will be further strengthened by our forthcoming office opening in Johannesburg.’

The firm launched its own German practice after terminating its alliance with Gleiss Lutz at the end of 2011.

Gleiss Lutz announced recently it would combine with four European firms Chiomenti, Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira and Gide Loyrette Nouel to launch a Frankfurt-based joint focus group for regulatory issues.

The ‘Regulatory Hub’ will comprise lawyers from all four firms, and will target the banking sector with an aim to ‘interact with banking regulators’.

The new hub is being led by partners Vincenzo Troiano and Alessandro Portolano from Chiomenti, Fernando Hernandez Mínguez from Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira, Stéphane Puel from Gide as well as Maximilian von Rom from Gleiss Lutz.

Mínguez said: ‘The Regulatory Hub will allow us to keep dealing with the increasing role of the European Central Bank and the challenges generated by the launch of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) in an even more efficient way than in the past while working on mandates from any of the four firms.’

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Middle East moves: Herbert Smith Freehills to reopen in Saudi Arabia

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Middle East and Africa Herbert Smith Freehills
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Four months after shutting down its Abu Dhabi office and two years after terminating its association with a Saudi Arabian firm, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is returning to Riyadh.

Management at HSF decided to re-enter Saudi Arabia at the start of 2015 and are now hoping to gain local approval for an association agreement by March 2016. The move comes just two years after the end of its six-year exclusive association with Saudi Arabian firm Al-Ghazzawi Professional Association (GPA) in 2013.

HSF, which entered the Gulf in 2007 with offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has struggled for growth in the Middle East and wants to reposition its standing in the hope of attracting greater volumes of projects and infrastructure work.

Down to just one partner in Abu Dhabi at the start of the year, project finance partner Alexander Currie, the firm decided to close the office and relocate a five-lawyer team to Dubai. The Abu Dhabi office suffered a series of exits, with Islamic finance specialist Adil Hussain departing to join Clyde & Co’s local office late last year, real estate partner Nick Turner returning to London and office managing partner Andrew Newbery resigning in 2013 to pursue a corporate career in the UK.

In addition to Dubai the firm opened in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in early 2012 and the office is home to two partners.

Despite a series of closures by international law firms across the Middle East, with Latham & Watkins closing its Abu Dhabi and Doha offices earlier this year and Baker Botts also withdrawing from Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia is attracting attention as a hub for Middle East finance work. Simmons & Simmons expanded its links in the country through opening a second associated office with local ally Hammad & Al-Mehdar late last year and Shearman & Sterling formed an association with three-office Saudi firm Abdulaziz Alassaf & Partners earlier this year.

The head of HSF’s Middle East practice Zubair Mir said: ‘The Middle East is a very important region for us and our strategy is under constant review. Clearly we’re looking at our footprint and how best to increase our capability to service current and future clients in the region.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Herbert Smith counters Thierbach loss with King & Spalding hire

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Strategic recruitment Herbert Smith Freehills
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Just over a month since news broke that its high-profile capital markets head Steve Thierbach was leaving, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has appointed King & Spalding’s Tom O’Neill to head its US securities practice.

Capital markets partner O’Neill leaves King & Spalding just a year after joining the firm from Linklaters. His move to King & Spalding was seen as integral part of the US firm’s capital markets play in the City, recruited as part of a double hire alongside Latham & Watkins’ New York-qualified counsel Markus Bauman.

O’Neill’s arrival is a noteworthy move for HSF following the loss of Thierbach and fellow capital markets partner Christopher Haynes in September to US firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher. One senior partner at HSF said at the time ‘it is imperative that the firm finds a replacement’. 

HSF has binned the head of capital markets role following Thierbach’s exit, with the post split into three separate positions. While O’Neill will head US securities, Charles Howarth has been made equity capital markets chief and Andrew Roberts, a 2011 hire from Linklaters, will head the debt capital markets division.

New York qualified O’Neill, who left Linklaters after 13 years as a partner to join King & Spalding, specialises in corporate finance and securities offerings and spent seven years in Linklaters’ Paris office before heading up the firm’s Turkey desk from London.

He is particularly known for his advisory role on the £1.9bn privatisation of Royal Mail in 2013 from his time at Linklaters, as well as transactions for Thomas Cook and Direct Line.

He will become a cornerstone of HSF’s capital markets practice, after the firm lost four high-profile lawyers over the past three years: Jim Wickenden, who Thierbach succeeded as capital markets chief, departed for Allen & Overy in late 2012 and Alex Bafi, who sat on the firm’s partnership council, left at the start of 2015 to join Clifford Chance.

HSF UK head of corporate Scott Cochrane said: ‘Tom is well regarded by clients and peers and his wealth of experience complements our leading capital markets practice. This important and strategic hire is a testament to our commitment to providing top quality advice on capital markets transactions for our clients.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Herbert Smith Freehills launches first African office with Johannesburg opening

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Africa Herbert Smith Freehills
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Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has become the latest firm to launch in Africa with a four-partner office opening in Johannesburg.

HSF, which has a strong client book in the mining and energy sectors, launches in South Africa after securing a double partner hire from Linklaters’ alliance firm Webber Wentzel.

Head of energy and infrastructure Brigette Baillie and mining chief Peter Leon both make the switch to HSF, leaving Webber Wentzel after 28 and 16 years respectively.

Their hires are a huge coup for HSF, which has long-sought an on-the-ground presence in Africa and came close in 2013 before scrapping advanced plans to open in Guinea’s capital Conakry. 

Baillie and Leon will be joined in Johannesburg by two relocating HSF partners already working in the firm’s Africa practice. Ed Baring, head of the firm’s Russian finance practice, and Bertrand Montembault, Paris head of energy and infrastructure, both move to South Africa to launch the office.

Many of the firm’s major clients including energy major BP, state-owned oil corporation China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), mining giant Rio Tinto and Standard Chartered Bank are all extremely active in Africa.

HSF co-chief executive Mark Rigotti said: ‘Africa is a core feature of our global strategy. With clients from across our international network looking at the tremendous growth opportunities, the opening of an office in Johannesburg is an important step in how we provide a pan-African offering. This is an exciting milestone for the firm which underlines our commitment to provide an end-to-end service for leading global businesses’. 

Leon added: ‘Herbert Smith Freehills is a tremendously well respected global law firm that already has a significant presence across the continent. I am proud to join the firm and very much look forward to working with Brigette and my new colleagues to further entrench our leadership in the region.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

HSF hires BLP project management team as firms race to chop up work

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Strategic recruitment Herbert Smith Freehills
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Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has ramped up its ability to break down legal mandates so that work can be handled in a more efficient way, by hiring a new process management team from Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP).

Already operating two outsourcing centres in Belfast and Perth to send low-end legal work to, the City firm has hired a four-strong team from BLP to co-ordinate more efficient ways of handling disputes, M&A and finance work.

Cathy Mattis leads the team hire, joining as head of legal project management for Europe, the US, the Middle East and Africa. She is joined by Lynn Mackay as legal project analyst, Sarah Nathan as a legal project management assistant and Priya Lele as legal project management lead for corporate work.

While team hires have become attractive for law firms bringing in high level partners, HSF’s swoop is the first of its kind for a legal processes team, highlighting the move in the market towards a new way of working.

The team, which helped coordinate BLP’s opening of a legal services centre in Manchester early last year, is regarded as one of the leading groups in the drive towards mandate-mapping, which seeks to break down legal work before dispersing it in a more efficient and cost-effective way. The team’s arrival takes the size of HSF’s legal project management team to 10.

HSF global head of disputes Justin D’Agostino said: ‘Clients want efficient project management of their legal matters. Legal project management allows us to provide clients with a more systematic and disciplined approach to legal work. Ultimately, a better product is delivered and legal spend is optimised.’

The firm opened its Belfast legal services centre in 2011 to handle document reviews in banking disputes, before expanding the centre to take on chunks of M&A and financing work. Earlier this month the firm opened a similar centre in Perth to carry out work for its Asian network.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer became the latest top-tier London firm to open an outsourcing centre by launching in Manchester earlier this year.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Gibson Dunn swoop for HSF capital markets duo boosts English law capability

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Strategic recruitment Gibson, Dunn & CrutcherHerbert Smith Freehills
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Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s appointment of Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF’s) capital markets duo Steve Thierbach and Chris Haynes is an important step in building the firm’s English law transactional capability.

Thierbach, who was HSF’s global markets chief, is one of the City’s most established capital markets lawyers. His hire, along with corporate partner Haynes, comes as part of Gibson Dunn’s wider corporate play in London.

Legal Business

Dealwatch: Herbert Smith Freehills strikes gold with Polyus takeover bid

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Corporate Debevoise & PlimptonHerbert Smith FreehillsNorton Rose Fulbright
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Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has picked up a new client as a number of firms took advisory roles in Sacturino’s bid to buy the remaining part of Polyus Gold it does not own.

Russian billionaire Said Kerimov’s company Sacturino, together with its parent company Wandle Holdings, already owns a 40.2% stake in Russia’s largest gold producer Polyus Gold. 

Jersey-based Polyus, which had instructed Debevoise & Plimpton in 2012 for its stock exchange listing, turned to HSF, which advised with a team led by London corporate partners Mike Flockhart, Greg Mulley and global M&A head Steven Wilkinson.

Sacturino was advised by Norton Rose Fulbright with a London team led by partners Chris Pearson and Paul Whitelock supported by corporate partner Simon FT Cox and banking partner Rich Hughes. A Norton Rose team from Moscow is being led by partners Julian Traill and Alexander Tsakeov.

This time around Debevoise is on the other side of the deal table, acting for Sacturino alongside Jersey firm Bedell Cristin on the financing aspects of the deal, which values Polyus Gold at $9bn.

The financier for Sacturino’s bid VTB Capital was advised by Allen & Overy (A&O) with a team led by banking partner Sanjeev Dhuna and supported by corporate partner Richard Hough and tax partner Chris Harrison. Ogier Jersey also acted alongside A&O with a team led by partner Chris Byrne.

On Wednesday Polyus said the offer was disappointing and had ‘materially undervalued’ the company.

HSF has recently advised opposite EY for British American Tobacco as its long standing client signed a conditional agreement to acquire 100% of Europe’s largest eCigarette retailing network, CHIC. 

victoria.young@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Herbert Smith Freehills trims regional management as Cox and Cochrane take on more global roles

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Leadership Herbert Smith Freehills
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Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has rejigged its global executive for the first time since its Anglo-Australian merger in 2012, trimming back regional management in a bid to boost its integration effort.

As a number of influential figures at HSF have had their terms come to an end, the firm has refreshed its leadership and slashed the number of regional managing partners in half.

A string of UK management figures have had their roles expanded, with UK corporate chief Scott Cochrane promoted to global head of corporate and UK and US managing partner Ian Cox also handed control of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Investment funds specialist Cochrane, who was made a partner 13 years ago, replaces Melbourne-based Mike Ferraro in leading HSF’s global corporate push.

Cox, meanwhile, has assumed a greater global platform after the US and UK managing partner roles were combined with the EMEA regional role. Allen Hanen, who is regarded as one of the firm’s most strategic thinkers, has relinquished his EMEA responsibilities as a result. The firm hopes that London, no longer separated from EMEA, will now be able to strengthen its referral links across the region and feed more of the firm’s European and Middle Eastern foreign offices.

The managing partner role for Australia has also been scrapped, with that post rolled into the Asia regional role. Justin D’Agostino, who already heads up the Asia practice and is global head of disputes, continues in the expanded role which he will now share with Australian litigator Sue Gilchrist. 

Just four of the 11-person global executive continue in their roles, with co-chief executives Sonya Leydecker and Mark Rigotti, as well as global head of business services Nicole Bamforth and chief financial officer Nick Willmott retaining their posts.

Jason Ricketts, who lost his Australia managing partner post after the regional roles were consolidated, stays on the global executive after being given control of the firm’s finance, real estate and projects practice.

Rigotti said: ‘The firm is moving to a new exciting phase in a sector which is rapidly changing. This is the right time to make some changes to the general structure of the executive to ensure that it correctly reflects the needs of the business for our future development as a leading international law firm.’

Leydecker added: ‘A major change will see us combining our regional management. We are doing this to foster even closer collaboration and connectivity in practices, client relationships and business operations.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk