A&O bolsters leading leveraged finance practice with senior hires

Annette has a breadth of leverage product knowledge across the capital structure and advises financial institutions, private credit providers, corporates and private equity sponsors. She has carved out a successful practice in a number of areas: the crossover between leveraged and infrastructure finance, private credit transactions, as well as fund finance and mainstream leveraged financing advice.

Robert’s experience is in leveraged and acquisition finance, acting principally for banks on sponsor-backed acquisition finance. He also has a strong track record advising lenders and borrowers in investment grade financings and restructurings.

A&O’s co-head of global leveraged finance, Nick Clark said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Annette and Robert, two prominent finance lawyers in the London market. We’re excited about what the combination of their strengths with our market leading team will mean for our clients.”

Denise Gibson, co-head of global leveraged finance, added: “Annette’s arrival will enhance our penetration into the growing leveraged and infrastructure finance cross-over space as well as building on our strong track record in the private credit arena. Robert’s depth of experience and standing in the market bolsters our integrated loan and high yield offering for sponsor backed LBOs, as we continue to deliver a leading one stop solution for leveraged finance advice.”

Robin Harvey, co-head of private equity, added: “This is an exciting time for A&O’s leveraged finance offering to our private equity clients and their lenders. Annette and Robert join the firm as we continue to invest in our team globally with the hire of Jake Mincemoyer in New York and the promotion of Adam Zecharia and Thomas Roy as partners in London and Paris.”

A&O maintains a leading top-tier global leveraged finance practice with more than 250 lawyers across the U.S., EMEA and Asia Pacific, including 18 partners and over 50 associates in London. In February 2021, Jake Mincemoyer arrived as head of U.S. leveraged finance in New York and in April 2021, Adam Zecharia and Thomas Roy were promoted to leveraged finance partners in London and Paris respectively and Temi Esho was promoted to leveraged finance counsel in London.

A&O was once again ranked the number one adviser to both sponsors and their lenders for leveraged finance in Europe earlier this year, according to data published by Debtwire which is reported here.