People

Kirkland bolsters London debt practice

Stephen Lucas, former head of Weil Gotshal’s banking group in London, has joined Kirkland & Ellis’ London office as a partner.

-

Law firm Kirkland & Ellis has strengthened its debt financing practice by hiring Stephen Lucas as a partner, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday.  

Lucas joins the firm from Weil Gotshal & Manges’ London office, where he was head of the firm’s UK banking group. Prior to joining Weil in 2011, he was a partner at Clifford Chance and Linklaters.

Jeffrey Hammes, chairman of Kirkland’s global management executive committee, said in the statement: “Stephen is widely recognised as among the top finance lawyers in London. He is a brilliant, hard-working lawyer and strategic thinker, and a significant addition to our already strong and very active European debt finance group.”

Lucas has worked on a wide range of deals, including the financing for The Carlyle Group’s acquisition of Chesapeake’s packaging business, a £250 million note issue by Advent International-owned Equiniti, and Levine Leichtman Capital Partner’s acquisition of Mander Portman Woodward.

Kirkland’s debt finance group’s recent deals include advising Advent and Bain Capital on their acquisition for DKR 17 billion of Nets Holding, Apollo, Towerbrook and York on the €565 million refinancing of Monier, and CVC’s €2.3 billion of Ista International.Â