Legal Business

Latham targets Asian private equity market with hires from Clifford Chance and Freshfields

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Strategic recruitment Clifford ChanceFreshfields Bruckhaus DeringerLatham & Watkins
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After making significant investment into its European private equity practice to transform it into one of the region’s biggest private equity players, US firm Latham & Watkins has set its sights on Asia with a triple hire and two relocations.

Having kick-started its drive into European private equity market with the hire of Clifford Chance’s private equity chief David Walker in 2013, Latham returned to the Magic Circle firm to hire Hong Kong deal doer Simon Cooke as it turns its attention to Asia. Cooke leaves Clifford Chance after two decades at the firm, the last nine of which have been as a partner.

Having so far struggled to gain a strong footing in the Asia market, Cooke arrives as part of a triple hire into Asia with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer counsel Amy Beckingham joining as a partner and Hogan Lovells leveraged finance partner Gary Hamp also joining in Hong Kong.

Latham, which has built its global expansion around cornerstone private equity and capital markets practices, is applying the same formula to its expansion in Asia as PE takes off in the region. Asian tycoons have historically shut out private equity firms and preferred to make direct investments but that appears to be changing, with US consultancy firm Bain reporting that PE in the Asia-Pacific region broke out of a sobering two-year slump in 2014 as deal values broke previous records and more funds were raised.

Cooke and Beckingham, M&A lawyers with a track record of selling companies through IPOs, are expected to work closely with leveraged finance specialist Hamp. Also arriving in Asia are high yield partner James Burnett and restructuring partner Josef Athanas, who relocate to Hong Kong from London and Chicago respectively.

Latham chair and managing partner Bill Voge said: ‘Latham has been deeply involved in the development of private equity and leveraged finance markets in the United States and Europe, and there are clear signs that those markets are growing and evolving in Asia. The arrival of these partners in Hong Kong, along with the talented team in London, New York and other global financial capitals, puts us in place to capitalise on these trends.’

Cooke added: ‘Latham has had significant success in its other markets and the firm’s commitment to achieve the same market stature in Asia, together with its incredibly strong finance platform, is very attractive to me.’

Bryant Edwards, Latham’s Asia chair, said the firm ‘saw strong growth in private equity and related finance in London and Europe 10 years ago’ and is ‘seeing the same patterns in Asia today, in particular where high yield has grown to become a significant part of leveraged finance’.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Latham prepares sixth Asia office as it signs property lease for Seoul

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Asia Latham & Watkins
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Within a year of reviewing its Asia strategy, Latham & Watkins is set to join the mass of law firms in South Korea, as it prepares to launch its Seoul office. 

The firm has submitted its application for a foreign legal consultant office and also signed a lease in the One IFC tower in the financial district of Yeouido.

Latham first showed interest in the region in summer last year as part of a wider Asia strategy review. The firm’s eight-person Initiatives Committee, chaired by New York corporate partner Edward Sonnenschein, was tasked with examining the firm’s offering in Asia, as it looked at options to open a Seoul office.

At that time, Latham’s chair Bill Voge, told Legal Business that the firm was ‘taking a deep hard look at Asia’ and that the committee had ‘got some of [its] top, deepest thinkers in the firm’ looking at the region.

The Seoul office will be the firm’s sixth base in Asia adding to its offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. In 2015, Latham had 30 partners spread across its five Asia offices.  

Voge said in a statement: ‘Seoul is a vibrant business and financial hub with strong and growing importance across the region and globally. We have more than two decades of experience working with a number of key South Korean market players and we are committed to supporting our South Korean clients.’

Following liberalisation of the South Korea legal market, Seoul has seen an influx of law firms in recent years with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and White & Case launching last year following the likes of Linklaters, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper and Herbert Smith Freehills in establishing a base in one of Asia’s fastest growing economies.

However Ashurst, which first signalled intentions to set up a base in South Korea back in 2011, said in January it had put its plans to launch in the country on ice.

From July 2016 for EU-based firms and in 2017 for US firms, liberalisation of the legal market will enter its final stage, allowing firms to invest in local outfits and hire Korean lawyers.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Latham & Watkins lures CMA director of mergers to broaden London offering

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Strategic recruitment Latham & Watkins
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Latham & Watkins has hired the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s director of mergers Jonathan Parker as it rounds out its London offering.

Parker leaves the CMA after two years at the UK’s primary competition and consumer authority, bolstering its merger team after it replaced the UK Competition Commission in early 2014.

He will join Latham’s antitrust & competition practice in May as a partner. Parker is the latest in a string of high-profile antitrust and competition appointments made by Latham in Europe as it beefs up its corporate team, following the arrival of Elisabetta Righini from the European Commission in Brussels. Parker becomes Latham’s fifth competition partner in London and the 20th in Europe.

An internal reshuffle at the CMA in late 2014 saw Parker, who joined the regulator from Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy, promoted to director of mergers. In this role he led the strengthening of the CMA’s merger unit, handling over 30 UK merger cases, including the union of gambling giants Ladbrokes and Coral. Parker also handled the first ever application to the CMA for interim measures, made by Worldpay over the Visa interchange fees investigation.

While a senior associate at A&O, Parker’s practice centred on representing major corporations in the pharmaceutical, energy, retail, banking and financial services sectors.

Latham antitrust and competition practice co-chair Sven Völcker said recent changes to the UK merger regime had raised the stakes for transactions with a UK nexus.

‘This creates obvious challenges in terms of deal certainty and increases the pressure to make notifications of any deals that may face scrutiny. Jonathan’s unique experience and insights will further enhance our ability to offer strategic transactional advice to our clients who are facing an increasingly complex competition landscape.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Latham takes another private equity partner from the Magic Circle as Linklaters’ Traugott departs

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US firm Latham & Watkins has hired Linklaters‘ German head of private equity Rainer Traugott as it continues its aggressive push into the European private equity market.

Traugott leaves Linklaters after 14 years at the firm and his exit comes as another blow to the firm’s private equity practice, following the departure of Ian Bagshaw and Richard Youle in London to White & Case in 2013, the loss of Peggy Wang in Hong Kong to the same firm last year, and the recent exit of Roger Johnson to Kirkland & Ellis in the City. Linklaters Hong Kong-based corporate partner Christopher Kelly, who handled work for the Carlyle Group, resigned earlier this month.

Traugott, who made partner in 2003, turned private equity house Triton into one of the firm’s biggest clients in Germany. He has also helped to build up the firm’s relationship with engineering conglomerate Siemens, primarily through lighting company Osram, a subsidiary which he advised when it spun-off in 2013.

His arrival at Latham’s Munich office comes a year after the firm hired Clifford Chance’s global co-head of private equity, Oliver Felsenstein, and partner Burc Hesse in Frankfurt.

Latham’s expansion in Germany followed a steady string of recruits in the City which began with the hire of David Walker three years ago from Clifford Chance. Felsenstein was Walker’s successor as global head of private equity at Clifford Chance. The veteran deal doer, who has close relationships with the Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman, subsequently hired private equity partners Tom Evans and Kem Ihenacho from Clifford Chance in London.

The firm’s rapid global expansion over the past five years, largely built on the back of its finance and private equity practices, saw it surpass Baker & McKenzie as the largest law firm in the world last year by revenue, with turnover of $2.61bn.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Subscribers can read more about the private equity market in: ‘ABC – the brutally simple world of a private equity lawyer.’

Legal Business

Latham taps Hogan Lovells as City finance push continues

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Latham & Watkins continues to enhance its finance roster, this time with experienced Hogan Lovells partner Gary Hamp. The hire comes shortly after Hogan Lovells had taken three Latham partners in Dubai.

Hamp departs Hogan Lovells City banking practice and had led its Hong Kong practice until 2014 before returning to London. While it is understood he could relocate to Latham’s Hong Kong office, the firm declined to comment on this.

He specialises in acquisition and leveraged finance, distressed investments, structured secured lending and debt restructurings and workouts. Significant clients include Bank of America Merill Lynch, which he advised on the financing of Avant Homes by Angelo Gordon, Alchemy and Avenue Europe; advising the syndicate of lenders including HSBC and Bank of China on a $3.2bn loan to COFCO Group to finance the acquisition of Nidera Capital Noble Agri; and Standard Chartered Bank on the HK$5bn financing for the public acquisition of TCC International Holdings.

News of the hire comes just after the resignation of three key partners in Latham’s Dubai office, with corporate duo Charles Fuller and Andrew Tarbuck set to depart for Hogan Lovells, along with finance partner Anthony Pallett. It also saw the departure of London corporate duo Graeme Sloan and Vladimir Maly this year to Morrison & Foerster.

Latham, however, has been proactive in building a strong City offering – particularly in corporate and finance – successfully tapping into the talent pool of rival Global 100 firms, including former Clifford Chance M&A trio David Walker, Kem Ihenacho and Tom Evans, and investment funds specialist Nick Benson, formerly of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Middle East moves: Latham loses partner trio to Hogan Lovells in Dubai

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Three of the nine partners in Latham & Watkins’ Dubai office have resigned, just months after the US firm announced plans to scale back in the Middle East by shutting down its offices in Abu Dhabi and Doha in March.

Corporate duo Charles Fuller and Andrew Tarbuck are to depart for Hogan Lovells, along with finance partner Anthony Pallett.

The trio resigned yesterday (11 November) from Latham’s 28-lawyer office. Headed by infrastructure specialist Villiers Terblanche, the exits leave the firm with six partners in Dubai.

‘Highly recommended’ by The Legal 500, Fuller joined Latham over a decade ago from Simmons & Simmons and specialises in venture capital, private equity and M&A.

Having joined from Norton Rose in 2008, Tarbuck also comes recommended and focuses on capital markets transactions, particularly IPOs and other equity fund raisings, debt securities and Sukuk issues. Notably he advised telecoms provider Ooredoo on its $2bn airtime Sukuk programme, and National Commercial Bank on its $6bn IPO on the Tadawul, the Saudi stock exchange.

Pallett works within Latham’s heavyweight banking and finance team, and alongside office managing partner Terblanche, advised Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) on its $4.3bn note issuance.

Hogan Lovells operates a 15-lawyer office in Dubai, including seven partners.

The firm’s Dubai managing partner Rahail Ali said: ‘The last decade has seen tumultuous changes for the MENA region, affecting all aspects of business life. Clients want to work with excellent lawyers who have hands on experience dealing with the fluid legal and social environment and lawyers who know what it means for them. This team has that experience.’

The departures come after Latham announced in March the closure of two offices in the Middle East by the end of the year, shutting down outposts in Abu Dhabi and Doha, and relocating staff to its Dubai operation with hopes of creating a central hub for work in the region. The closures come seven years after the firm launched in the Middle East and follow a review of its strategy in the region, where it concluded its offering could be run out of offices in Dubai, Riyadh and Saudi Arabia. 

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Maly departs Latham to join former colleague Sloan at MoFo

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Strategic recruitment Latham & WatkinsMorrison & Foerster
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US firm Morrison & Foerster has hired from Latham & Watkins‘ London corporate team again, this time appointing partner Vladimir Maly. The move follows the recruitment of former Latham private equity heavyweight Graeme Sloan in July.

Maly specialises in equity derivatives-related deals for clients ranging from private equity funds to high-net worth individuals and asset managers.

His arrival follows that of former colleague Sloan over the summer, who departed Latham after nine years to serve as MoFo’s London corporate practice and global co-chair of its M&A department. Sloan had served as global co-chair of Latham’s M&A practice.

Latham has been a pace setter in the City with a heavy focus on private equity and funds, and its London headcount has increased by 95% to 296 fee earners and 67 partners over the last five years (as at April 2015). Regularly attracting talent from rival firms, standout London hires for Latham in the last couple of years include former Clifford Chance M&A trio David Walker, Kem Ihenacho and Tom Evans, and investment funds specialist Nick Benson, formerly of Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

MoFo Europe managing partner Paul Friedman said: ‘We are committed to expanding our outstanding corporate and finance capability in London and across Europe.’

Sloan added: ‘I am delighted to have the opportunity to work again with Vlad. By deepening the corporate capabilities of MoFo in London, we will be even better positioned to provide the most sophisticated support to investment banks, funds, and corporations in England and around the world.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Latham & Watkins: Masterminding a fraud claim – the English courts as a magnet forum?

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Simon Bushell

London chair of litigation, Latham & Watkins

simon.bushell@lw.com

The world is an increasingly small place: money travels far and fast across seemingly invisible borders converting from cash into assets, back into cash, and then back into yet further assets at the click of a button.

Legal Business

Freshfields and Latham act on creation of new PE house as Barclays spins-off another venture

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Dealwatch Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerLatham & Watkins
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Private equity heavyweights Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Latham & Watkins have acted on the spin-off of Barclays’ natural resources private equity arm through a management buyout.

Barclays Natural Resources Investment has been bought by its managers, led by chief executive Mark Brown, after being placed into Barclays’ non-core asset pile following a restructuring of its investment bank last year.

The profitable unit, which has 14 staff operating out of London, New York and Doha, has an existing $1.7bn under management, including investments by the Qatar Investment Authority and by Barclays itself.

The renamed Global Natural Resource Investments (GNRI) instructed Latham & Watkins’ global co-head of private equity David Walker to lead on the spin-out and is already planning to raise a standalone fund of over $1bn.

Walker picked up the deal following his work back in 2011 on an earlier Barclays spin-off, Barclays Private Equity, which became buyout firm Equistone, while he was at Clifford Chance. For the GNRI transaction, Walker led a team comprising funds partners Nick Benson and Tom Alabaster, tax partner Sean Finn and employment partner Catherine Drinnan. 

Freshfields partner Karen Fountain, who has since retired, led the legal advice to Barclays. She was supported by corporate partner Philip Richards.

The management buyout ends another legacy of Barclays’ former chief executive Bob Diamond who encouraged the launch of the unit in 2006, shortly after becoming chief executive, to aggressively expand Barclays’ investment banking arm.

Brown said: ‘As an independent manager, we believe there is a demand for a private equity business that is focused on global natural resources, excluding upstream oil and gas in the US. In addition, we believe that the requirement for private equity capital in the global natural resources sector is stronger than ever and the current volatility in commodity prices is creating a positive back-drop for patient private equity.’

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Hitting the target: Latham & Watkins boosts female partner promotions in latest round

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Partnership promotions Latham & WatkinsMcDermott Will & Emery
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Almost half the lawyers made partner in Latham & Watkins’ latest 25 partner promotion round are female, following global chair Bill Voge’s pledge for diversity.

Following his election last summer, Voge promised to make diversity a priority and this is evident in the latest promotion round where 48% of those made up to partner are female. This is a significant leap on 2014, when just three of the 19 new partners were female, or 16% of the total. In 2013, it was just 15%.

Of the promotions at the world’s largest law firm, four London lawyers were made up to partner, with the firm investing heavily in the City despite a US-focused round.

Unsurprisingly, 20 of the firm’s 25 lawyers to make partner came in the US, the engine of the firm. But of the firm’s five overseas promotions, four of those new partners were based in the City, with Milan M&A associate Giovanni Sandicchi the only new partner outside of the US and the UK.

There are three more promotions in the City than last year with the focus on the firm’s finance and corporate practices. Finance associates Adrian Chiodo, who focuses on cross-border leveraged finance, and restructuring specialist Helena Potts were both made up to partner in the London, as was Robbie McLaren.

Farah O’Brien, a private equity dealmaker who joined from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer a decade ago, was made up in the corporate department after work on a string of high-profile deals, including advising key clients The Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, such as KKR’s €1.1bn purchase of UK harness maker Capital Safety in 2012.

Four other associates in the City were promoted to counsel positions, with all promotions set to take effect on 1 January.

This City promotions round is the joint-largest ever by Latham in London, equalling the four lawyers made up to partner in 2013. While globally this year’s cohort of new partners is six larger than in 2014, and five larger than in 2013, the promotions are distinctly more American than in previous years. Last year there were overseas promotions across London, Madrid, Hamburg, Milan, Paris, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi, but this year only lawyers in London and Milan secured partnership outside of the US.

City lawyers have missed out on partnership promotions at McDermott Will & Emery, with no promotions in its latest round of 30. The firm made up three partners in Europe: Gregor Lamla in Düsseldorf, Pierre-Arnoux Mayoly in Paris and Steffen Woitz in Munich.

tom.moore@legalease.co.uk

The Latham & Watkins 2015 partnership promotions are:

Rachel Bates, real estate, Chicago

Marc Zubick, litigation, Chicago

Thomas Brandt, corporate, Houston

Stephen Szalkowski, corporate, Houston

Adrian Chiodo, finance, London

Robbie McLaren, corporate, London

Farah O’Brien corporate, London

Helena Potts, finance, London

Douglas Burnaford, finance, Los Angeles

Michelle Carpenter, tax, Los Angeles

Giovanni Sandicchi, corporate, Milan,

Kegan Brown, environment, land & resources and litigation, New York

Adam Goldberg, finance, New York

Lori Goodman, tax, New York

Austin Ozawa, tax, New York

Jesse Sheff, finance, New York

Hilary Shalla, finance, Orange County

Jennifer Koh, litigation, San Diego

Lisa Nguyen, litigation, Silicon Valley

Benjamin Potter, corporate, Silicon Valley

Chad Rolston, corporate, Silicon Valley

Sarah Greenfield, litigation, Washington DC

Shagufa Hossain, corporate, Washington DC

Leakhena Mom, corporate, Washington DC  

Andrea Ramezan-Jackson, tax, Washington DC