Silver circle firm Ashurst is back in favour with key private equity client Candover as it clinches the £2.18 billion acquisition of bookmaking chain Coral Eurobet by bingo and casino operator Gala. The deal was backed by UK buyout firms Candover, Cinven and Permira – the joint and equal private equity owners of Gala. The […]
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has landed its first M&A transaction for Reckitt Benckiser, the household and personal care group. The magic circle firm, led by corporate partner Mark Rawlinson, advised Reckitt on the successful acquisition of Boots Healthcare International (BHI) for £1.9bn in cash. Rival bidders for BHI included Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline. Boots plans to return […]
Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has raided Dewey Ballantine’s London office for a new head of the firm’s global projects practice. Dewey partner Jonathan Simpson resigned yesterday (5 October) to join BLP as a senior equity partner. He is expected to leave at the end of the week. In his new role, Simpson will also become […]
US firm Reed Smith has raided rival firm Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker’s to secure two new partners for its New York office. Thomas Fairfield and John Altorelli have joined the firm’s business and regulatory department. Mark Pedretti, of counsel at Paul Hastings’ New York and Stamford offices, also joined Reed Smith. Fairfield and Altorelli […]
The Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) has announced the appointment of the first chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission. Baroness Usha Prashar, whose career path included positions as director of the national council for voluntary organisations; executive chairman of the parole board for England and Wales and member of Lord Chancellor’s advisory committee on legal […]
Lord Steyn is to be nominated as chair of human rights organisation Justice’s council. Lord Steyn, who was a full-time member of the House of Lords’ judicial committee, will replace Lord Alexander of Weedon QC, who has been chair for the last 15 years. The nomination will take place during the Annual General Meeting on […]
French independent firm De Pardieu Brocas Maffei has picked up one of Coudert Brothers’ two remaining Paris partners. Corporate partner Pascale Gros joins De Pardieu in a boost to the firm’s M&A capability. Headed by name partner Thierry Brocas, De Pardieu’s corporate team now boasts five partners and 15 associates. Gros has been a partner […]
Six candidates have come forward to stand for the post of senior partner at Freshfields just a few days before the magic circle firm’s partnership conference in Paris this weekend. Four UK partners are standing for election: regulatory specialist Guy Morton, and corporate partners Graham Nicholson, Barry O’Brien and Philip Richards. The other two candidates […]
Robin Saphra has joined Colt Telecom as commercial director and head of regulatory. Saphra spent the past year in Dubai’s Internet City where he was developing plans, strategy and licence for the UAE’s second telecommunications operator. Saphra previously held senior posts at One2One (now T-Mobile), a company he joined after leaving City firm Allison & […]
US firm Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker has bagged employment specialist Christopher Walter from rival firm Covington & Burling. Walter, who has ten years experience in employment law, joins the firm as of counsel and chair of the employment practice in Europe. Paul Hastings employment chair Nancy Abell said: “The addition of Chris coupled with […]
By Sam Roberts, a consultant with EJ Human Resources
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy has shot up 13 places to rank third on the European M&A league tables published by Bloomberg, Thomson Financial and Mergermarket for announced deals. A&O jumped from 16th to third spot in the Thomson Financial third-quarter M&A league table for announced deals, after advising on 173 deals totalling $178.39bn. […]