International law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has announced another senior appointment in its fast-growing German practice. M&A specialist Christoph Nawroth will join the firm's Düsseldorf office as a Corporate partner in its top-tier global M&A practice.
Christoph will join from Freshfields, where he is co-head for the global Power and Utilities group and for the Infrastructure Funds group.
A highly respected practitioner with an outstanding reputation for handling complex public and private M&A transactions, Christoph is recommended in legal directories for both M&A and private equity. Christoph's practice covers private and public M&A as well as general corporate advice and joint ventures. His clients include renowned international large- and mid-cap private equity investors, infrastructure and pensions funds, large European energy companies as well as well-known family businesses. His sectoral focus is, besides Private Equity, on energy and infrastructure.
Scott Cochrane, Global Head of Corporate, said: "I am pleased to see another top-tier lawyer join our firm. Christoph will be a perfect fit for our successful German practice and a great addition to our team of well-regarded M&A and private equity specialists. He will help us further enhance our offering to our clients in Germany, a crucial market for us given the size and strength of its economy and more widely EMEA, a key region for our firm."
Christoph is the latest in a string of high-profile hires amid rapid growth in the firm's German practice. In June this year, M&A specialist Sönke Becker joined as a corporate partner in Düsseldorf.
Since opening in Frankfurt and Berlin in 2013, Herbert Smith Freehills has grown from one partner to 16, and a total of more than 55 lawyers across three offices. Christoph Nawroth's appointment will bring the German Corporate practice to six partners and 14 lawyers.
Ralf Thaeter, Managing Partner in Germany, added: "According to Thomson Reuters, acquirers listed in Germany were EMEA's most acquisitive companies for Q1 2016, with a combined total of almost US$85 billion in offers. We anticipate a steady flow of M&A deals to continue and the strategic hire of Christoph, a highly respected practitioner with an outstanding reputation for handling complex transactional work for blue chip clients, aligns to our ambition to be a leader in the market."
Herbert Smith Freehills' Düsseldorf office opened in March 2016 with market-leading arbitration and disputes specialist Thomas Weimann, who works alongside Competition, Regulation and Trade partner Michael Dietrich and others.
In recent months, Herbert Smith Freehills has also welcomed leading Corporate Crime and Investigation partners Helmut Görling and Dirk Seiler, who joined the Frankfurt Disputes team with a team of seven other lawyers and forensic experts; and leading international arbitration specialist Patricia Nacimiento, a disputes partner in Frankfurt.
The international law firm's appointments of Christoph Nawroth and Soenke Becker followed another high-profile Corporate hire in the EMEA region: Rudolph du Plessis joined the Johannesburg office recently as a Corporate M&A partner from leading South African firm Bowman Gilfillan.
About Herbert Smith Freehills
Operating from 26 offices across Asia Pacific, EMEA and the US, Herbert Smith Freehills is at the heart of the new global business landscape providing premium quality, full-service legal advice. The firm provides many of the world’s most important organisations with access to market-leading dispute resolution, projects and transactional legal advice, combined with expertise in a number of global industry sectors, including Banks, Consumer products, Energy, Financial buyers, Infrastructure & Transport, Mining, Pharma & Healthcare, Real estate and TMT. www.herbertsmithfreehills.com
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