White & Case has made a substantial addition to their London corporate team with the hire of Linklaters private equity heavyweights Richard Youle and Ian Bagshaw as the US firm seeks to establish a new UK practice group.
The pair are two of the best known names in the London market and are understood to have been weighing up a number of options before settling on White & Case. They will be tasked with building a new private equity offering to complement the firm's global team.
Youle and Bagshaw had previously been linked with a move away from Linklaters in 2010 when Ropes & Gray had been mooted as a possible destination. Both partners are highly rated in this year's IFLR1000 results and both are recognised as 'Leading lawyers'. "Richard is an exceptionally gifted lawyer with a full complement of skills as a private equity transactional lawyer," said one client.
The move comes as Linklaters itself had been looking to expand its sponsor lending practice to provide more support to its private equity transactional team. The perceived lack of support in the past is mooted as one of the reasons behind the move.
White & Case, in line with its larger US contemporaries in London, has a finance team more closely geared towards the private equity market and can offer greater capacity in the form of US debt and high-yield financing advice.
The two partners have down work for and have close relationships with the likes of Macquarie, Carlyle and Hg Capital and White & Case will hope to capitalise on their industry connections.
The market will wait to see what impact the move will have on both firms. Despite the lofty reputations of the two partners it has to be said that with so many firms (particularly US outfits) looking to boost their private equity teams (David Walker's move from Clifford Chance to Latham & Watkins to name just one) the market is getting increasingly competitive and no success is guaranteed.