Key Dickson Minto partner jumps ship for SJ Berwin

Premier niche corporate practice Dickson Minto has lost one of its corporate partners to SJ Berwin.

Graham White - a management buy-out specialist - and corporate assistant Raymond McKeeve will be joining SJ Berwin's private equity unit in January next year.

Although it only has 12 partners, Dickson Minto, which has offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London, has a reputation for top quality corporate work, especially buy-outs.

White, who was based at the firm's London office and is leaving after 11 years at Dickson Minto, has advised on a number of significant buy-outs, including the £98m buy-out of Thomson Directories and the £265m buy-out of British Aluminium.

He said he was attracted by the greater resources available at SJ Berwin, which he said had "much better back-up".

"My future is much better at SJ Berwin," he added.

The arrival of White will be a boost for SJ Berwin's private equity team, which has recently lost one of its partners, Matthew Hudson, to investment house Cabot Square Capital.

Describing White's appointment as "excellent news", SJ Berwin senior partner David Harrel said: "Graham has a very good individual reputation."

Dickson Minto's senior partner Alastair Dickson was unavailable for comment.