Dealmakers
Hot 100: Bruce Bell, Linklaters
Bruce Bell (scroll down for video interview) has been instrumental in Linklaters’ banking and restructuring groups.
He led some of the firm’s key turnaround cases of 2012, including the restructuring of waste group Biffa - where he and a Linklaters team advised the company - and Game Group, in which he acted for its lenders and then the administrators. This followed a 2011 in which Bell acted for Eircom during its restructuring.
The former legacy Wilde Sapte associate, who switched to Linklaters in the same role in 2000, made partner at the magic circle firm in 2005.
He has since been one of the drivers of the firm’s finance and restructuring practice. Indeed, he is part of a select group of Linklaters partners who used to ply their trade at Wilde Sapte, including senior partner Robert Elliott and fellow banking partners David Ereira, Philip Spittal and Nick Syson.
He has also spearheaded schemes that represent the firm’s changed direction. He launched its group on alternative credit providers (ACPs), a new type of lender creeping into the market previously dominated by the big banks.
He presented the project to partners at their annual conference in Montreux, Switzerland, in the spring alongside a team of London and Frankfurt partners. The plan is a major attempt to tap into the modern finance world and represents the firm’s move away from a perceived focus on the big banking relationships.
