In investment circles they are known as distressed debt funds or specialist situation funds – to everyone else they are vulture funds. Such vehicles buy up sovereign debt at bargain rates and then sue the debtor for the full amount plus interest charges and legal fees. In 2007, in one of the most high-profile vulture […]
The three members of Baltic alliance Lawin are a step closer to a full merger after consolidating their management and creating firmwide practice heads. Strategic decisions for the three Lawin firms, based in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will now be made by a six-member management board, with Filip Klavins, name partner at Latvian firm Klavins […]
An East Anglian bust-up is looming following the merger of Chelmsford-based Wollastons and Ipswich-based Birketts. The 6 September deal, which completes £17.8m firm Birketts’ aim of having a presence in all four East Anglian counties, brings it back into direct competition with Birkett Long. Until 1995, when they demerged, Birketts and Essex-based Birkett Long were […]
An office launch and a merger sent ripples across the Nordic legal market this month. Hannes Snellman opened in Denmark as part of its quest to comprehensively cover the Nordic region, while Helsinki firms Merilampi and Veikko Palotie & Co merged. According to Merilampi, the merged firm will be Finland’s seventh-largest, with a turnover of […]
The legal market’s finest rugby players turned out in force in Richmond on Sunday 19 September to battle it out at this year’s Taylor Root Law Society Rugby Sevens. Linklaters scooped the top prize and Tulkinghorn rightfully extends his congratulations on a fine performance. But while the crowds admired the sporting ability on the pitch, […]
Kirsty Cooper, group general counsel at Aviva, is on a mission to build closer ties between the insurer’s disparate legal advisers. The appointment of Kirsty Cooper as group general counsel at Aviva marks the start of a period of change in the company’s global legal department. Having been part of the legal function at various […]
What do you do at weekends? Relax with my wife and children. What was your first-ever job? A modern-day version of the ‘plongeur’ in George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London. What was your worst experience as a trainee? Being asked by a client to leave my position as cloakroom minder at the […]
Bristows has taken on Marek Petecki as a partner in its corporate group. He joins after five years at Slaughter and May, where he was a senior associate. Move of the week Petecki has expertise in a wide range of corporate and commercial transactions, including M&A, financings and joint ventures. Bristows joint managing partner Mark […]
SJ Berwin has acted for Coca-Cola Enterprises on its move into new European headquarters at the edge of London. Coca-Cola has exchanged contracts with Invista Real Estate Investment Management, on behalf of Clerical Medical Investment Group, to move its 550 staff into a 108,884sq ft redevelopment in central Uxbridge. SJ Berwin partner Bryan Pickup, who […]
Field Fisher Waterhouse’s (FFW) longstanding relationship with the BBC has seen it land the role of chief adviser to a consortium of broadcasting and communications companies on the launch of TV service YouView. YouView will offer a mix of Freeview digital channels and on-demand web-based content, including BBC iPlayer, ITV.com and 4OD via a set-top […]
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have been handed lead roles in Deutsche Bank’s proposed takeover of Deutsche Postbank. Cleary is advising Deutsche Bank on a e9.8bn (£8.28bn) capital rights issue that will be used to fund the acquisition of retail lender Deutsche Postbank, which is being advised by Freshfields. The rights are being offered publicly […]
Ashurst has won a major deal acting on the establishment of a new pan-Asian reinsurance business. The firm has picked up a mandate advising Steve Roder, the former finance chief of AIA, who left the insurer when it was in talks concerning a takeover by Prudential. Those talks ultimately failed. Ashurst Hong Kong corporate partner Robert Ogilvy […]