Linklaters has hired former Allen & Overy (A&O) head of real estate finance Mark O’Neill in London.
O’Neill joins Linklaters as a partner after leaving A&O last February. He spent more than 20 years at his former firm and was head of real estate finance between 2008 and 2014.
Linklaters global banking head Tony Bugg said: “Mark is widely recognised as one of the pre-eminent real estate finance practitioners in the European market, and we are delighted to have him on board.”
The firm has been pushing real estate finance work in recent years. Recent deals it has advised on include advising Starwood and Brookfield on the €325m financing of the acquisition of a portfolio of hotels in Germany, and Blackstone on the refinancing of Secure Income REIT subsidiaries.
Growth of the banking team follows a number of changes to the group over the last year, including the appointment of former banking head Gideon Moore as global managing partner last year.
Bugg took over as head of banking for a four-year term in January from his position as global head of restructuring and insolvency.
Linklaters has made a flurry of lateral hires in the last six months despite the firm traditionally rarely recruiting at partner level in London. The London office has also seen a number of partner departures over the last year, particularly from its corporate team.
The firm hired private equity partner Ben Rodham from Shearman & Sterling in December following a number of exits from the practice to Kirkland & Ellis in the months preceding.
In disputes, Linklaters took competition litigator Tom Cassels from Baker & McKenzie in November to launch a public law practice.
It has also been on a hiring spree in the US, following up its first US lateral in two years with a second in the same week.
The firm took Bakers New York litigation head Douglas Tween as chief of its US cartel and government investigations practice in October, and hired Margot Schonholtz from Wilkie Farr & Gallagher to head its restructuring and insolvency practice in New York.