A&O strengthens leveraged finance bench with European high yield hire

Marwa represents issuers and banks, credit funds and other lenders on complex corporate financings and has advised on cross-border transactions in the UK, across Europe and the Middle East. She has a broad practice with a particular focus on high yield debt offerings, U.S. federal securities laws, leveraged finance, project bond offerings, general debt capital markets transactions and debt restructurings. Marwa has also delivered specialist covenant advice for her clients on loan transactions that have adopted high yield covenant technology.

A&O’s co-head of global leveraged finance, Nick Clark said: “Marwa is highly regarded for her technical skills and collaborative approach. Her arrival will further strengthen our European high yield bench, following the arrival of Brad Weyland in 2021, and her project bond experience provides a further boost to our infrastructure finance expertise.”

Denise Gibson, co-head of global leveraged finance, added: “It is fantastic to welcome Marwa to our global leveraged finance practice. High yield expertise is a critical part of the offering in delivering a market leading leveraged finance franchise for our clients. Given the current economic cycle, we also expect Marwa’s extensive restructuring experience will prove very useful to the clients we service in this space.”

Kevin Muzilla, head of European high yield added: “It’s been a remarkable 18 months for our European high yield team which was recognised in particular at the IFLR Europe 2022 Awards where we won Team and Deal of the Year.”

A&O maintains a leading top-tier global leveraged finance and high yield practice with more than 250 lawyers across the U.S., EMEA and Asia Pacific, including 22 partners and over 60 associates in London. In 2021, Jake Mincemoyer arrived as head of U.S. leveraged finance in New York followed by leveraged finance partners Gordon Mak and Stan Kostov. In London and Paris, Adam Zecharia and Thomas Roy were promoted to leveraged finance partners and Temi Esho was promoted to leveraged finance counsel. This was followed by the arrival of leveraged finance partners Annette Kurdian and Robert Burt and high yield partner Brad Weyland, in London. The team grew further in 2022 with the appointment of dedicated leveraged finance partners in London (Hannah Gates and Megan Lawrence), Hong Kong (Dan Tan), Madrid (Tom Wilkinson), New York (Ilona Potiha and Karen Buzard) and Paris (Geraldine Lezmi).