Goodwin Procter leads for Advent on €8.5bn private equity fundraising
Goodwin Procter has advised private equity group Advent International on its latest fund, which has raised €8.5bn (£6.8bn) in one of the largest buyout fundraisings post-financial crisis.
Advent International GPE VII, which began gathering funds in March, is being spoken of as the biggest buyout fund raised since September 2008.
The Boston-based buyout group turned to longstanding adviser Goodwin Procter, with a team led by Boston-based private investment funds head David Watson and including partners Matthew Giles, Byron Pavano, Neal Sandford, William Stern and Scott Webster.
The US firm is understood to have turned to an Ashurst team in London for advice on securities law.
Background to this deal:
Goodwin Procter has been advising Advent International for 25 years and has subsequently advised the global private equity group on a number of deals, including its acquisition of Nuevo Banco Comercial, the Uruguayan commercial bank, in 2006. Advent vice president and legal counsel Andrew Dodge is a former Goodwin Procter lawyer.
Last year Advent hired Weil Gotshal & Manges private equity co-head and Boston managing partner James Westra as managing director and chief legal officer (19 September 2012), a move that followed a string of in-house hires from private-practice firms in the private equity arena.
