People moves and key promotions in securitisation

This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees A&O Shearman announcing two new securitisation partners in its first wave of post-merger partner promotions, while an existing A&O partner leaves for Kirkland & Ellis. Elsewhere, Paul Hastings has lured two securitisation specialists from Weil Gotshal & Manges, while Campbells has added a partner in its Hong Kong practice.

Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling have announced the first partner promotions for the combined firm, A&O Shearman. A pair of securitisation lawyers are among those being promoted: senior associate Tim Bates, who joined Allen & Overy’s London office as a trainee solicitor in March 2011; and senior counsel Derek Poon, who joined Allen & Overy's New York office as an associate in September 2012.

A total of 40 partners have been elected to the partnership by their current respective firms: A&O elected 32 partners and Shearman elected eight, consistent with the relative size of the two firms and their geographic footprints. They will join the A&O Shearman partnership upon the merger closing on 1 May.

Meanwhile, A&O partner Vanessa Xu has joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner focused on cross-border leveraged finance transactions. At A&O, Xu focused on structured finance transactions in addition to cross-border leveraged buyouts. Based in London, she leaves A&O after 17 and a half years with the firm.

Weil Gotshal & Manges’ structured finance partner Shawn Kodes has joined Paul Hastings as partner and co-head of asset backed finance in its New York practice. Kodes joins the firm after 13 years at Weil, and will focus on both domestic and cross-border structured finance transactions spanning all asset types. Prior to joining Weil, he worked at Hudson Castle and Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti.

Paul Hastings has also simultaneously appointed Weil’s structured finance counsel Matthew Nemeth as a partner. Nemeth spent eight and a half years at Weil.

Campbells has recruited Paul Trewartha as a partner in its practice in Hong Kong. Joining the firm after spending 10 years at Mourant, Trewartha specialises in advising on structured finance, debt finance and debt capital markets transactions. Trewartha’s addition brings the number of partners on the Campbells’ team in Hong Kong to six, with a total of 13 lawyers.

Real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured has appointed former CBRE Ireland executive director and head of capital markets Johnny Horgan as md, based in Dublin. Horgan joins the firm after five years as md at digital property investment platform BidX1 in Madrid. He will focus on the Irish market and take over from Peter Geissel who is transitioning into the role of senior adviser. Horgan spent five years at CBRE, prior to which he spent four and a half years at Irish Life Investment Managers and eight years at Warren & Partners.

Also in Dublin, ING has promoted Aidan Hore to md - structured distribution solutions, with the firm’s capital markets and advisory unit. He joined the firm in August 2011.

RIPCO Real Estate has poached two former Meridian executives in a bid to expand its debt and structured finance team. Adam Hakim and James Murad will take up roles in construction financing and transitional asset debt capital markets. The pair will join the New York office as executive md and md respectively, after six years of service at Meridian Capital, where they specialised in arranging transactions in the New York metropolitan area and Florida.

Richard Chu has joined Guy Carpenter as md for credit, bond and political risk, and global specialties, based in its Singapore office. Chu joins the global risk and reinsurance business after nine years at Partner Re, where he was head of financial risks for Asia Pacific. He previously worked at Asia Capital Re, AIG and Swiss Re. Chu will report to David Edwards, who heads up Guy Carpenter’s credit, bond and political risk, and global specialties team.

Russell McVeagh has recruited structured finance specialist Kate Maclean to its banking and finance practice in Australia. Based in Auckland, Maclean joins the firm as a senior associate after a six-year stint on Fieldfisher’s structured finance team in the UK, where she advised on a range of structured transactions including several bridging loan securitisations.

Corinne Smith, Claudia Lewis, Kenny Wastell