Sullivan & Cromwell has made a twin capital markets and restructuring partner hire from Paul Hastings to further expand in London.
The incoming partners are Patrick Bright and William Needham, with Bright set to lead the firm’s high-yield capability while Needham joins as co-head of S&C’s European restructuring and special situations practice.
Bright advises investment banks, sponsors, corporates and bond investors on marquee high-yield offerings and leveraged finance transactions.
His experience also spans bond restructurings, complex capital markets transactions and general US securities law matters.
Meanwhile, Needham focuses on complex cross-border restructurings, distressed debt, bespoke capital solutions and private credit workouts for asset managers, sponsors and corporates across Europe.
“Patrick and Will bring highly complementary practices at the intersection of high yield and restructuring,” S&C’s London co-managing partners, Kon Asimacopoulos and John Horsfield-Bradbury, said in a joint statement.
“Our clients increasingly want lawyers who can operate seamlessly across the debt spectrum. Patrick and Will, together with our continued growth in specialty lending, acquisition finance, private equity and restructuring, are well placed to meet that demand.”
Bright joins after three years at Paul Hastings, before which he was a partner at Weil. Earlier this year, he co-led the Paul Hastings team that advised a syndicate of initial purchasers led by Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and SEB in connection with the offering of €925m senior secured notes by Alloheim, one of Germany’s largest nursing home operators.
Needham arrives after two years at Paul Hastings, before which he spent nine years at KKR and earlier practised as an associate at Weil.
S&C co-chairs Robert Giuffra and Scott Miller said the duo bring “deep experience in the private capital markets, and their arrival significantly enhances our ability to support sponsors, investors and lenders across the private capital spectrum in Europe”.
The duo are the latest in a spate of recent London hires for the New York firm, long known for its conservativism in partner hiring.
Last month, it added Weil partners Christopher McLaughlin and Alastair McVeigh to lead its private equity and borrower acquisition and leveraged finance practices in London and European private credit offering, respectively.
This followed the December hires of private equity and M&A partner Aprajita Dhundia and transactional tax partner Ian Ferreira from Kirkland & Ellis, while in September it added ex-Weil London office head Mike Francies, as well as Asimacopoulos, who was previously a restructuring partner at Kirkland.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
