Latham & Watkins has hired four private equity partners in Germany from Freshfields, one of the US firm’s most significant lateral hiring moves in recent years.
The hire of the group, which includes Markus Paul, Freshfields’ former continental Europe managing partner, adds heavyweight deal capabilities to a firm already consistently topping global M&A rankings by deal value, and leaves Freshfields lacking PE rainmakers in Germany.
Paul, who has spent the past 25 years at Freshfields, has made the move alongside fellow veteran partner Wessel Heukamp, next-generation star Verena Nosch and Carsten Haak, who made partner earlier this year.
Collectively, they bring decades of dealmaking experience across leveraged buyouts, complex cross-border M&A and transactions for private equity sponsors, financial institutions and corporates.
Charles Ruck, global chair of Latham’s corporate department, commented: “Private equity has long been a core pillar of our global strategy and the arrival of this team strengthens our practice in every major market globally.”
Paul and Haak will join the Frankfurt office, while Heukamp and Nosch will move across in Munich. Paul is a well-known figure in the German market and has long-standing relationships with top PE houses, including Permira, which he advised on its landmark €14bn acquisition of Adevinta in 2023.
Heukamp has spent the past 23 years at Freshfields, where he most recently co-led its global M&A practice. He and Nosch co-led the Freshfields team that advised Cinven on its $1.5bn acquisition of Grant Thornton earlier this year, and his main client base covers global private equity houses, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and corporates, according to his LinkedIn profile.
For her part, Nosch has spent nearly seven years at Freshfields, having earlier practised at Hengeler Mueller, while Haak joined the firm as an associate eight years ago from Latham and has advised a roster of PE clients, including Warburg Pincus and TPG.
The group’s move comes at a time of intense competition for top-of-market PE talent in Europe and as Latham expands its German bench following notable departures, including a six-lawyer PE team that defected to Weil in October.
Last year M&A heavyweight Tobias Larisch also left to open a Frankfurt office for Kirkland & Ellis, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher hired away an 11-lawyer bankruptcy and restructuring team alongside PE partner Nils Röver.
Rich Trobman, Latham’s chair and managing partner, said the hire of the Freshfields group was an “important milestone” in the growth of the firm’s private equity and M&A practices in Germany and Europe, noting the team’s deep relationships and track record of leading on sophisticated transactions.
German private equity partner Oliver Felsenstein added that the team’s arrival “raises the bar even higher” for Latham’s practice in Germany, which will mark its 25th anniversary next year.
The firm led the global M&A legal advisor rankings by deal value in the first nine months of the year, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, after working on 592 deals worth $488.9bn.
In continental Europe, however, Latham was some way behind market-topping Freshfields, working on deals with European involvement worth $154bn compared to Freshfields’ $190bn and German deals worth $17bn compared to Freshfields’ $43.3bn.
For Freshfields, the team’s exit comes amid industry speculation about the balance of its global strategy, with the firm’s focus on US growth – underscored by top-tier hires from Wall Street rivals – raising questions about whether that could mean a slimmed-down presence in continental Europe in the medium term.
A Freshfields spokesperson commented: “We wish them all the best.”
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