A&O Shearman has hired Linklaters veteran Diego Esposito as a leveraged finance partner in Milan.
Esposito joins his new firm after 17 years at Linklaters, where he was a partner in its Milan office. He joined the firm as a trainee solicitor in 2008 in London, rising steadily through the ranks in London, Hong Kong and then Milan.
Paolo Nastasi, managing partner of A&O Shearman in Italy, said: “Diego’s arrival marks a very important milestone in our growth strategy and reflects our ambition to be a leading player in private capital, at a time when leveraged finance is a key element in supporting complex transactions.
“Diego joins a highly qualified and recognised team, further strengthening our ability to offer integrated Italian, English and US law leveraged financing solutions to our clients.”
Esposito has extensive experience in acquisition and leveraged finance, syndicated lending, corporate loans, super senior revolving credit facilities, high-yield bonds and private bond structures.
Over the course of his career, he has advised arrangers, sponsors, financing and private credit providers, as well as borrowers, on a wide range of domestic and cross-border transactions.
While at Linklaters, he led a cross-border team in March advising on doValue’s pivotal €300m high yield-bond offering to refinance existing debt following its acquisition of Italian credit management company Gardant and a successful rights issue.
Other recent clients include Eurizon Capital Real Assets and Almawave, which he advised on a financing agreement with BNL BNP Paribas in February.
Nick Clark, global co-head of debt finance at A&O Shearman, said that Esposito’s “extensive expertise and outstanding reputation in the Italian and international leveraged finance markets will be invaluable as we continue to grow our practice and support our clients’ most complex financing needs”.
Clark added: “Diego’s arrival further strengthens our ability to offer leveraged finance expertise under both Italian and international law.”
Esposito said he was joining the firm at a dynamic time for the Italian leveraged finance market, saying it was “playing an ever more significant role in supporting growth in the real economy and strategic business initiatives”.
Writing on LinkedIn, he said: “I look forward to this new chapter and the opportunity to work with the A&O Shearman’s incredible team.”
The move follows the hire by Latham & Watkins in London this April of structured finance partners Franz Ranero and James Smallwood from A&O Shearman, as the US firm responded to recent exits from other American rivals in a buoyant London lateral hiring market.
A&O Shearman subsequently saw a senior financial regulatory partner exit to Sullivan & Cromwell, but made a hire of its own in George Knighton, who joined from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in May.
More than 59 partners have left A&O Shearman outside Asia as part of a strategic move to reduce its equity partnership by 10% post-merger, with beneficiaries including Paul Weiss and Sidley Austin, both in May.
Veteran M&A partner Domenico Fanuele, the former head of Shearman & Sterling in Italy, joined White & Case in April 2024 ahead of the merger with A&O, bringing a team with him. And Orrick hired Shearman’s Italian M&A practice head Fabio Fauceglia and his team of six lawyers, also in Milan.
Linklaters was approached for comment.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
