CC and Davis Polk On $8bn China IPO: Davis Polk & Wardwell advised Postal Savings Bank of China on its Hong Kong Stock Exchange float, with Clifford Chance leading for the underwriting banks, including JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. King & Wood Mallesons acted as Chinese counsel to the banks, while Haiwen & Partners was Chinese adviser to Postal Savings Bank.
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After a high-profile tussle and one of the biggest team hires in the City, Sidley Austin has secured the corporate work of key Kirkland & Ellis client TowerBrook Capital Partners, amid claims that Sidley pushed aggressively to secure the work.
The news comes after a six-partner team announced in February it would depart Kirkland and set up a City private equity team at Sidley.
Of the six joiners, corporate partners Erik Dahl and Christian Iwasko managed the TowerBrook relationship while at Kirkland, generating $20m a year – a major chunk of Kirkland’s estimated $180m in City revenues last year. Kirkland advises TowerBrook on the lion’s share of its M&A mandates across Europe.
Some of Dahl and Iwasko’s TowerBrook deals include acting for Braas Monier Building Group, which it bought in 2009 with Apollo Global Management and York Capital Management, on its refinancing, high-yield bond offering and initial public offering in 2014; advising on the sale of the Jimmy Choo group to Labelux Group in 2011; and representing the client on its €443m sale of PolymerLatex in 2010.
The move comes amid claims that Sidley has quoted aggressively on fees to successfully secure the transfer of work despite a last-ditch effort by Kirkland to retain a least a chunk of its mandates.
‘I have never seen anything like this before,’ said one City private equity partner. ‘Moving a client into a non-full-service start-up is always risky. [Sidley] is saying “take a punt on us for a year and see how it works”.’
Another added: ‘I was surprised to hear this. TowerBrook is an active client and they are clearly buying the business.’
However, George Petrow, who co-heads Sidley’s finance practice, said in a statement that assertions that clients set to follow the Kirkland team would ‘enjoy a more generous fee arrangement’ were ‘untrue’. TowerBrook declined to comment.
Sidley has clearly made every effort to bolster its newly-launched deal team. Of the six partners joining, private equity partner Fatema Orjela, banking partner Bryan Robson, corporate partner Sava Savov and tax partner Oliver Currall are all understood to have joined Sidley on salaries between $1m and $1.5m. Dahl and Iwasko on the other hand are on financial guarantees of $5m. Sidley last month bolstered its leveraged finance team with the hire of Willkie Farr & Gallagher partner James Crooks.
The firm also hiked the pay of seven associates to secure the recruits. It is understood that one-year post-qualification experience (PQE) associates will see wages rise from £95,000 to £105,000 while two years’ PQE will see pay packets increase from £105,000 to £115,000. Associates with three years’ PQE will take home £129,000, an increase of £14,000.
Sidley, which has historically focused on structured finance in the UK, is also in the process of launching a Munich office, mainly to service Dahl’s clients, despite axing its Frankfurt office in 2014 following a spate of partner exits that put the office under a review in 2013. Dahl worked out of both London and Munich while at Kirkland.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
Tussle continues over lucrative work after K&E raid
After a high-profile tussle and one of the biggest team hires in the City, Sidley Austin has secured the corporate work of key Kirkland & Ellis client TowerBrook Capital Partners, amid claims that Sidley pushed aggressively to secure the work.
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Sidley Austin has filled a hole in its City finance debt team with the hire of Willkie Farr & Gallagher corporate leveraged finance partner James Crooks.
Former Kirkland partner Crooks has officially resigned from Willkie Farr and accepted an offer from Sidley. He will re-join six former Kirkland partners – private equity partners Christian Iwasko, Erik Dahl and Fatema Orjelam alongside banking partner Bryan Robson, corporate partner Sava Savov and tax partner Oliver Currall – at the new shop.
Crooks had worked closely with debt finance specialist Robson during his time at Kirkland. Crooks left Kirkland in 2014 to join Willkie Farr as the firm was building its City debt finance practice. He specialises in debt finance, including syndicated lending, leveraged acquisitions and general banking with significant experience in private equity, capital markets and debt restructuring transactions.
The hire is a significant coup for Sidley which is clearly investing in the City, which in the past had no serious private equity offering. The firm also hiked all associate pay in the City office to at least £100,000 to secure seven associates moving across with the Kirkland team.
Sidley also gave some of the new partners and the joining team of seven associates a signing-on fee of up to £100,000 each in addition to their salaries.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
Sidley Austin is upping its game in the City by announcing it will increase the salary of all its London associates to at least £100,000.
The firm is also making plans to launch a new office in Germany to service some of the new clients it will be taking on.
The pay hike comes as part of the firm’s play to secure a team of associates arriving from Kirkland & Ellis, along with a six-partner team that was recruited in February.
Under the changes, newly qualified associates will receive £10,000 more to £100,000 from 1 May this year.
It is understood that one year post-qualification experience (PQE) associates will see wages rise from £95,000 to £105,000 while two years’ PQE will see pay packets increase from £105,000 to £115,000. Associates with three years’ PQE will take home £129,000, an increase of £14,000 more than before.
Sidley is also giving some of the new partners and the team of seven associates a signing-on fee of up to £100,000 each in addition to their salaries.
City private equity partners Erik Dahl, Christian Iwasko and Fatema Orjela alongside banking partner Bryan Robson, corporate partner Sava Savov and tax partner Oliver Currall quit Kirkland & Ellis in February to join Sidley Austin and improve its private equity offering.
Sidley is also in the process of launching a Munich office, mainly to service Dahl’s clients. Dahl – who served as an officer in the US Army earlier in his career – worked out of both London and Munich while at Kirkland.
The office would be the firm’s first base in Germany having axed its Frankfurt office in 2014 following a spate of partner exits that put the office under a review in 2013.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
Sidley Austin is the latest US firm to announce its partnership promotions, electing 24 new partners, but making up just one in London in a reduced partnership round.
The total number of promotions is 25% less than last year when 32 lawyers were made up, and matches 2013’s level in which 24 Sidley lawyers also made the ranks.
All promotions were made in the US apart from two in Europe – James Oussedik was promoted in London within the investment funds, advisers and derivatives practice while disputes pracitioner Michele Tagliaferri was made up in the Brussels office.
Last year, the US firm’s London office saw two promotions in the corporate reorganisation and bankruptcy, and real estate practice groups, while the year before no City promotions were made.
Sidley’s management committee chair Larry Barden said: ‘Our new partners share a strong dedication to the core values of our firm and exemplify Sidley’s commitment to excellent client service, integrity, diversity and collegiality.’
Sidley’s round comes after Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan made up one in London in a global round of nine, while London provided the bulk of this year’s partner promotions at Shearman & Sterling, with more lawyers joining its partnership in the City than in the US.
In November, Weil Gotshal & Manges focused on New York and London in a reduced round that saw seven of the eight promotions in the two major cities; after Mayer Brown made up two in London from a 27-strong round; while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett promoted nine new partners across the firm including three in London, and fellow Wall Street elite Sullivan & Cromwell only promoted in the US.
The promotions come into effect on 1 January 2016.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
The full list of Sidley’s partner promotions:
Michele Tagliaferri, Complex Commercial Litigation, Brussels
Kathleen Carlson, Securities and Shareholder Litigation, Chicago
John McBride, Intellectual Property Litigation, Chicago
Joseph Paral, Tax, Chicago
Beth Quintana, Investment Funds, Advisers and Derivatives, Chicago
Steven Sexton, Securities and Shareholder Litigation, Chicago
Adam Snyder, M&A, Chicago
Robert Velevis, Complex Commercial Litigation, Dallas
James Oussedik, Investment Funds, Advisers and Derivatives, London
Courtney Rangen, Real Estate, Los Angeles
Michael Rosenfield, Insurance, Los Angeles
David Form, Investment Funds, Advisers and Derivatives, New York
Neil Horner, M&A, New York
Robert Kao, Global Finance, New York
Sheetal Khera, Global Finance, New York
John Fisher, M&A, Palo Alto
Jaime Bartlett, Securities and Shareholder Litigation, San Francisco
Kwaku Akowuah, Supreme Court and Appellate, Washington DC
Andrew Blake, Securities & Derivatives Enforcement and Regulatory, Washington DC
Colleen Theresa Brown, Privacy, Data Security and Information Law, Washington DC
Stephanie Hales, Healthcare, Washington DC
Karen Kazmerzak, Antitrust/Competition, Washington DC
Brian Morrissey, White Collar: Government Litigation & Investigations, Washington DC
Raj Pai, Food, Drug and Medical Device Compliance and Enforcement, Washington DC
Increased demand for US capital markets capability in recent times has seen King & Wood Mallesons dip into the laterals market, and appoint US securities partner Bart Capeci in London.
Capeci joins KWM from Sidley Austin, where he was a partner for six years. Qualified in the US he moved to Sidley from Allen & Overy to support its City push for IPOs, bond issues and high yield financings.
Seen as important part of the growth of A&Os capital markets practice during his 13 years at the firm, first as an associate and then partner, Capeci is an important appointment for KWM.
He joins the Hong Kong-based firm as it makes a concerted push for capital markets work, with US securities partner Christine Chen joining in Beijing from JP Morgan Chase, Gary Lock arriving from Herbert Smith Freehills in Hong Kong and Hao Zhou joining from Linklaters in the same city.
KWM’s capital markets practice secured roles as issuer’s counsel on Alibaba’s record-breaking $25bn IPO, National Australia Bank’s $5bn rights issue and China General Nuclear Power’s $500m bond issue.
Last week KWM advised on Hong Kong’s largest rights issue to date this year, with investment house Fosun International raising $1.5bn to fund a push into financial services.
Capeci becomes the 20th partner to join KWM in Europe this year, with the majority of those hires occurring in real estate.
William Boss, KWM’s Europe and Middle East managing partner, said: ‘Attracting talent like Bart Capeci is a sign of the growing strength of our global capital markets practice as well as our international finance team in Europe. Bart will complement the firm’s growing capabilities in US securities.’
Subscribers can read more about what’s going on at KWM in ‘Sum of its parts: can King & Wood Mallesons match the hype?
Weil, Gotshal & Manges‘ structured finance practice in the City has been hit by the departure of two lawyers with partner Rupert Wall heading to Sidley Austin and senior associate Chris McGarry making partner at Ropes & Gray.
The exits come as firms look to bulk up their presence in the securitisation markets after the fall off in work seen post-financial crisis ends and politicians start to see the markets as an alternative to bank lending and a prime way to get investment flowing back into the real economy.
Wall made partner at Weil in 2012 and is listed as a leading individual for securitisation in The Legal 500. He has experience in a range of asset classes including trade receivables, credit-card receivables, auto loans, vehicle rental fleets and mortgage loans, and in using a variety of structures, including collateralised loan obligations (CLO), asset-backed commercial paper conduits and whole business securitisations.
Sidley’s London managing partner and co-head of its global finance team, Matthew Dening, told Legal Business: ‘We have seen a recovery in the securitisation markets in the US and we are starting to see signs of one in Europe which we expect to gather pace. Rupert’s hire helps position us for this recovery.’
McGarry, who was a senior associate at Weil but makes partner in the move to Ropes, has focused on CLOs for arrangers, sponsors, originators and investors though also covers consumer asset-backed securitisation, trade receivables and restructurings. Before Weil, McGarry worked as an associate at Clifford Chance and as vice president in Royal Bank of Scotland’s structured finance team.
‘Chris will play a key role as we ramp-up our CLO and securitisations capabilities in London,’ said Jane Rogers, co-leader of Ropes’ London-based finance practice group which also hired structured finance partner Partha Pal in May 2015 from Chadbourne & Parke.
michael.west@legalease.co.uk
Sidley Austin has boosted both its M&A and private equity offering in Southeast Asia with the hire of White & Case partner and Indonesia chief Charlie Wilson into its Singapore office.
Wilson joined White & Case in 2009 from an in-house role at specialist finance company Linq Asia Capital and acted as the firm’s Indonesian head.
A specialist in private equity and sovereign wealth fund investments and disposals in Southeast Asia, Wilson is ranked as a leading individual by The Legal 500 and has worked on deals including Pertamina, Indonesia’s state oil monopoly, purchase of Venezuelan oil assets.
Thomas Albrecht, managing partner for Sidley Asia Pacific, said: ‘Charlie has a particular strength in understanding the investment philosophy of, and legal requirements for, private equity investment in the region, and we believe that investment sector will continue to expand along with the regional economy.’
‘He also brings valuable Indonesia experience to the firm, and we expect that country to continue to attract the attention of our international clients,’ added Matthew Sheridan, head of international corporate finance practice in Asia and a member of Sidley’s executive committee.
In Indonesia White & Case recently established a new alliance with local, Jakarta-based firm Witara Cakra Advocates, after its previous ally also suffered partner exits.
Meanwhile, also in Singapore, King & Wood Mallesons lost Hong Kong-based international arbitration partner David Bateson to 39 Essex Chambers. He joins the set on 1 July 2015, with a focus on commercial arbitration and construction and will work alongside Ben Olbourne who joined in 2014.
michael.west@legalease.co.uk
DLA Piper, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and Sidley Austin have all completed partner raids on rivals in Asia as they seek to expand their presence in the region.
DLA Piper, which undertook a major overhaul of its Asia partnership in 2014 as it moved on underperforming lawyers, secured a coup with the hire of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Singapore partner John Viverito and of counsel Myles Hankin.
The corporate duo joined Gibson in 2008 from Jones Day to launch the firm’s Singapore office and will be joined by their former colleague, capital markets partner Joseph Bauerschmidt, who is departing Jones Day to reunite with Viverito. All three will join DLA Piper as partners.
Viverito will take charge of DLA Piper’s Singapore office, replacing insurance litigator John Goulios, who will now co-head the firm’s Asia Pacific insurance practice.
Meanwhile, Milbank has continued to add to its ranks in Asia, hiring another Allen & Overy Hong Kong partner in the form of M&A lawyer David Kuo.
Kuo, a US and Hong Kong qualified lawyer, made partner at the Magic Circle firm in May 2013. His practice focuses on cross-border acquisitions, focusing on handling work for private equity and hedge funds.
The US firm lured a four-lawyer team from A&O led by capital markets partner Jim Grandolfo at the tail end of 2013 and bolstered its ranks last year with the hire of Stephenson Harwood’s aviation finance chief Paul Ng in Singapore.
Attempts to capture market share in Asia have placed a premium on those with management experience, as a host of firm’s seek to rework strategies that have failed to bear fruit.
With technology M&A having created a surge in legal work at the international law firms able to handle cross-border work, Sidley Austin has hired management experience with the addition of US technology firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Beijing head Kefei Li.
Li, who earlier in his career had spells at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Dewey & LeBoeuf, ended a three-year stint at the tech law firm to move his capital markets practice to Sidley Austin’s more developed Beijing office. He has headed Wilson Sonsini’s office in the Chinese capital since its opening in 2012.
tom.moore@legalease.co.uk
