Allen & Overy (A&O) has recruited from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Germany, bringing on board private equity partner Nils Koffka.
Koffka is a Freshfields lifer, having first been part of legacy Bruckhaus Westrick Stegemann.
He became co-head of the firm’s private equity sector group in 2004 and was then made co-head of global infrastructure and transport in 2009 after Ed Braham was selected as the firm’s corporate chief.
Koffka handed over his management role to London-based Martin Nelson-Jones in 2014.
He will continue to be based in Hamburg after his move to A&O, with recent deals including BC Partners’ €2.6bn acquisition of CeramTec from Cinven last year.
A&O has made a series of hires to its German private equity practice in the last 12 months.
DLA Piper partner Dominik Stühler will be moving to the magic circle firm’s Munich office, with his appointment following that of Michiel Huizinga in Frankfurt at the start of 2017. Huizinga was a former partner of King & Wood Mallesons.
A&O corporate co-head Dirk Meeus said: “Germany is fast becoming the preferred investment destination for private equity in Europe.
“Nils’ appointment is another significant step in increasing our bench depth in this market to anticipate and meet the needs of our global private equity client base.”
There have been a number of magic circle switches in Germany, with A&O senior banking partner Neil Weiand announcing his move to Linklaters last year. Linklaters also recruited Clifford Chance private equity partner Chris Kellett in Frankfurt.
