Clifford Chance and Freshfields advise on MBO of Barclays private equity arm

Under the deal, Barclays Private Equity (BPE) is set to be spun out and renamed Equistone Partners Europe.

Clifford Chance private equity head David Walker, the firm’s longstanding relationship partner for BPE, advised Equistone alongside funds partner Nigel Hatfield.

BPE had a first closing on its fourth fund - worth €500m (£427m) - in the past week.

Walker and Hatfield were joined by tax partners Nick Mace and Tony Stewart, regulatory partner Simon Crown, IT partner André Duminy, employment partner Mike Crossan, competition partner Jenine Hulsmann, pensions partner Imogen Clarke and real estate partner Mike Edwards.

The Clifford Chance team also included London corporate associate Andrew Mills, Paris corporate partner Gilles Lebreton, Paris tax partners Julien Ruderman and Eric Davoudet, Munich corporate partners Burc Hesse and Jan Wrede and Milan finance partner Lucio Bonavitacola. The international team reflects the range of jurisdictions in which legacy BPE has subsidiaries - including Munich and Zurich.

Freshfields funds and corporate partner Karen Fountain and financial institutions partner Robert Stirling advised Barclays.

Freshfields is one of eleven firms on Barclays’ general advisory panel, a reviewed version of which was revealed in July (1 July 2011).