Norton Rose regains US finance ace

Norton Rose has taken on an acquisition finance partner from Jones Day Reavis & Pogue in New York.

Tom Speechley, who worked for Norton Rose's acquisition finance group from 1992 to 1998, returned to the firm on 1 May following a three-year stint in the US.

His experience is in US buyouts and in the leveraged finance markets of Europe and New York. He advised on debt in the recent Seagram acquisitions and also on the ENI bid for Lasmo.

Acquisition finance partner Andrew Bamber says the firm has been looking for someone to do complex leveraged finance work.

"The London market's becoming more and more like the US market, and we need someone to grow our capacity at the more complicated end of the deal spectrum," he says. "Speechley's made a lot of contacts in New York and has broadened his experience in capital markets, and in particular in high-yield debt work."

Speechley's arrival brings the number of partners in the acquisition finance group to five.