Sullivan & Cromwell has boosted its London ranks with the hire of Kirkland restructuring partner Kon Asimacopoulos and former Weil Gotshal & Manges London managing partner Mike Francies.
Asimacopoulos, who has been a partner in Kirkland’s European restructuring group since 2006, has joined as co-head of Sullivan & Cromwell’s London office and will also lead the firm’s European restructuring and special situations practice and co-lead its global restructuring practice.
Meanwhile, corporate specialist Francies has joined the firm, having retired last December after more than 20 years as Weil’s London managing partner.
Sullivan & Cromwell co-chairs, Robert Giuffra and Scott Miller, described the duo as “preeminent lawyers who have built market-leading restructuring, private capital and M&A practices in London and across Europe”.
“Kon and Mike will be cornerstones to our plans to continue growing our global restructuring, private capital and M&A practices, building on the thriving European private equity practice led by Karan Dinamani,” Giuffra and Miller said in a joint statement. “They will help us attract other leading lawyers and enhance our reputation for delivering the highest-quality advice across all of our practices.”
Asimacopoulos acts for companies and investors in national and cross-border financial restructuring, insolvency and litigation matters and is widely regarded as one of the top restructuring lawyers in the market. Recent work includes advising Flint Group on its recapitalisation of €1.3bn of debt and global construction business McDermott International on the cross-border restructuring of approximately $2.6bn of the group’s secured debt facilities.
Asimacopoulos will co-lead Sullivan & Cromwell’s restructuring practice with Andy Dietderich and Jim Bromley in New York, and co-lead the London office alongside John Horsfield-Bradbury.
A Kirkland spokesperson commented: “We thank Kon for his contribution to the firm and wish him well in the future.”
Francies’ equally storied career has seen him act on a range of public and private transactions, both cross-border and domestic, across various industry sectors. At Weil, he acted for corporate and financial advisers as well as private equity clients, including Blackstone and Lone Star, advising the latter on a number of transactions, including the €5.2bn sale of MBCC Group in 2023.
Asimacopoulos and Francies’ arrival follows the global co-head of A&O Shearman’s financial services regulatory group, Barnabas Reynolds, joining Sullivan & Cromwell in London in June. Nevertheless, they mark rare lateral additions to the office – before Reynolds, its most recent partner hire was in 2023 when private equity heavyweight Karan Dinamani joined from legacy Allen & Overy as the firm’s first London lateral since 2018.
With around 80 lawyers, the London office is Sullivan & Cromwell’s second largest, although it is dwarfed by its 500-lawyer headquarters in New York. The arrivals also come shortly after a rare instance of partners defecting from the firm in London: its European restructuring head, Chris Howard, and European credit and leveraged finance partner Presley Warner having left for Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in March.
“Kon and Mike join an incredible team in Europe as we continue to build out our private capital business,” said John Horsfield-Bradbury, managing partner of Sullivan & Cromwell’s London office. “The addition now of these two market leaders, and of Barney Reynolds earlier this year, enhances our ability to provide high levels of expertise, experience and resources across integrated mandates from London. I am delighted that Kon will partner with me to lead our London practice in the next phase of S&C’s growth.”
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
