Kirkland & Ellis has made a significant hire in London adding a IFLR1000 Leading Lawyer to its private equity team.
David Higgins, Highly Regarded by the IFLR1000, joins the firm from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and will also join the US firm's Global Management Executive Committee.
Higgins has been involved in a range of notable deals in the last few years and in 2017 acted on matters including CPPIB's £675 million acquisition of a 30% stake in BGL Group, Hellman & Friedman's acquisition of Nets and Allfunds Bank (along with GIC) and Leonard Green & Partners' £2.4 billion acquisition of CPA Global.
For their part Kirkland's Uk team has also picked up notable PE mandates in 2017 including Apax Partners' £800 million acquisition of Matchesfashion.com and Reckitt Benckiser Group's $17.9 billion acquisition of Mead Johnson Nutrition.
Higgins is the second hire Kirkland has made from Freshfields in London in 2017 following the addition of partner Sean Lacey in May.
The move comes in the wake of Freshfields' changes to its lockstep pay structure, which the UK firm hopes will help it retain talent in the future.