Eversheds Sutherland hires lawyer from Freshfields to co-lead project finance

A general view of London. Photo taken with a drone. REUTERS/Yann Tessier

(Reuters) – British-American law firm Eversheds Sutherland said on Thursday it has recruited longtime Freshfields partner Bruckhaus Deringer to co-chair its global project finance practice.

A partner in UK firm Freshfields since 2003, Alex Carver advises clients on infrastructure transactions, including greenfield project finance and brownfield acquisitions, Eversheds said in a statement.

In greenfield financing, a company sets up its own facilities. In brownfield acquisitions, companies buy or lease the existing infrastructure.

Carver’s clients include German conglomerate Siemens, financial services group Macquarie and European infrastructure investor Infracapital, according to his biography on the Freshfields website.

Carver’s Freshfields online biography also said in the past that he represented VTB Capital, a subsidiary of Russian financial institution VTB Bank, on the company’s $1.8 billion public-private partnership project. Petersburg Pulkovo airport in Russia.

VTB Bank and its subsidiaries have been on US and UK sanctions lists since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Asked about VTB on Thursday, a spokesperson for Freshfields cited a March 7 statement that the company took “immediate action to terminate, suspend or deny warrants” with companies or individuals “having close ties to the ‘Russian State’.

The statement also said the firm is “taking immediate steps to end our litigation mandate with VTB.”

Last year, Carver advised international investment firm John Laing on its proposed $2.84 billion acquisition by investment firm KKR, according to a statement posted on the Freshfields website.

The addition of Carver is part of Eversheds 3,000 lawyers’ continued investment in finance and infrastructure to meet growing client demand, said Simon Waller, Head of Finance at Eversheds Sutherland. , in a press release.

London has seen an evolution in the finance and infrastructure partner market over the past month, with UK firms Osborne Clarke and Linklaters hiring three finance partners each, and New York firm Schulte Roth & Zabel hiring a finance partner and derived from Dentons.

On Thursday, another Freshfields spokesperson wished Carver well in his new role.

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