TLT has boosted its financial services offering with the hire of Barclays’ investigations and enforcement head Jake McQuitty, who joins the firm as a partner.
Continue reading “TLT boosts City financial services offering with Barclays’ team head hire”
It has been a busy couple of days for the City hire market, with leading London tax partner Jonathan Kandel departing Weil, Gotshal & Manges for Kirkland & Ellis while project finance partner Nick Collins is set to join Jones Day from Latham & Watkins.
After the landmark fines issued to banks over Libor and foreign exchange market manipulation, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) saw the total value of penalties triple to £1.47bn in 2014. However, the increase looks to set a high-water mark as enforcement agencies switch attention to individuals.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) yesterday afternoon announced that five major banks have made a collective settlement of $5.7bn (£3.6bn) to bring a close to investigations which have seen a raft of firms pick-up work including Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Clifford Chance.
Continue reading “A $5.7bn settlement: Bank quintet admit market manipulation guilt”
DLA Piper has made its first foray into the consultancy business, launching corporate finance advisory arm Noble Street to focus on media and sports ventures that have been neglected by traditional banks.
Continue reading “A Noble pursuit – DLA Piper launches corp fin boutique to build TMT profile”
Goodwin Procter and Ropes & Gray launch in PE and ComLit
International firms in the City maintained their expansive form in April with three US-bred advisers unveiling UK law practice launches. The moves saw Boston’s Goodwin Procter launch a UK practice in private equity, New York’s Cahill Gordon & Reindel hire its first English-qualified partner and Ropes & Gray move into UK disputes work.
Goodwin Procter set up shop in London seven years ago looking to emulate the success of the firm’s property team in the States. But the firm recently announced its intention to compete in London’s private equity space, with the hire of King & Wood Mallesons co-head of corporate Richard Lever.
Continue reading “US firms step up in the City with new practices”
GE RESTRUCTURING BRINGS IN RAFT OF ADVISERS
A host of firms picked up work on General Electric (GE)’s restructuring, fielding large cross-border teams as the industrial giant sold $26.5bn of real estate assets and announced it would divest most of GE Capital’s other holdings. Hogan Lovells led for GE on the real estate sale, with buyers The Blackstone Group and Wells Fargo represented by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Dechert respectively.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges is advising GE on the wider restructuring, which will return up to $90bn to shareholders, alongside Sullivan & Cromwell and Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Continue reading “Deal watch: Corporate activity in April 2015”
Despite the spate of large scale settlements banks continue to set aside large provisions for legal spend with the latest, Barclays, setting aside £800m for investigations and litigation primarily relating to foreign exchange manipulation while Deutsche Bank put aside €1.5bn in the first quarter of 2015.
Paul Hastings, which is intent on bulking up its English and US law finance practice in the City, has boosted its leveraged finance practice with the hire of Ashurst‘s banking partner Luke McDougall.
Continue reading “Building the team: Paul Hastings hires Ashurst banking partner”
Ashurst’s Mark Vickers and Helen Burton assess a seismic shift in Europe’s leveraged debt markets
For many participants in Europe’s leveraged market, 2014 on first impressions heralded something approaching a new normal. According to data from 3i, Debt Management, leverage debt issuance in 2014 reached a total of €150bn; leveraged loan issuance was €78.4bn, the highest volume since 2007; and European high yield had another record-breaking year with total issues of €72bn. The European CLO market performed similarly strongly, raising €14.5bn, the third-strongest year of issuance on record. But behind the semblance of a market re-asserting its momentum, a number of fundamental features are coming together to divert the market’s direction of travel. And these changes have potentially far-reaching implications for law firms engaged in the European leveraged landscape.
Continue reading “Europe’s credit markets – the future is not where it used to be”
