Goodwin increases private equity mass in the US

Goodwin increases private equity mass in the US

Andrew Kimball and Andrew Cheng have joined in Washington DC and Santa Monica respectively

The private equity platform of Goodwin Procter has expanded with two partner-level lateral hires in Washington DC and Santa Monica.

Among the new hires is Andrew Kimball from Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C., as well as Andrew Cheng from Gibson Dunn in Santa Monica.

Kimball worked for Kirkland in New York for more than a decade, including three years as a partner. In addition to structuring and negotiating acquisitions and divestitures, he has also made minority investments and led leveraged buyouts.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Cheng worked at Gibson Dunn in Los Angeles for 18 years. His experience includes representing corporate borrowers, private equity investors and lenders in complex acquisition financing, royalty financing, special-situation financing, and other leveraged finance transactions.

According to Jennifer Bralower, chair of Goodwin's debt finance group, Cheng's "significant experience in navigating financing structures and sources of capital" will be "immediately beneficial" to the firm's clients.

In addition, Sheng's royalty financing and conversion experience, combined with Andrew Kimball's proven track record and extensive experience in structuring a broad array of private equity transactions, will significantly strengthen our platform.

According to Goodwin's website, the firm has 97 partners and more than 300 lawyers working in the private equity practice. Five of the firm's private equity partners are currently based in Santa Monica and eight are located in Washington, D.C. Last summer, the firm added Matthew Gruenberg from Schulte Roth & Zabel to its private equity platform in New York and James Moriarty from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel to its corporate practice.

As part of Goodwin's focus on building its private equity platform in Europe, the firm opened an office last month in Munich to facilitate the growth of its private equity operations in that region. Jan Schinköth leads the office, who joined the firm in Munich from Sidley Austin last May.

In the autumn of 2020, Goodwin plans to add to its London private equity team with five partners from Sidley. Group members included Erik Dahl, former managing partner of Sidley's Munich office and co-head of its global private equity practice and Christian Iwasko, former co-head of Sidley's European corporate and private equity practice.

The firm's London head of private equity, Richard Lever, stated at the time that the appointments are part of a five-year expansion of its high-value, complex private equity practice that has seen the firm add Carl Bradshaw from Kirkland & Ellis and former CMS private equity head James Grimwood.

In 2021 Refinitv rankings of global M&A legal advisors by deal volume, Goodwin topped the list with 294 transactions – 87 more than second-placed Kirkland & Ellis.