Dentons has hired two partners and two associates from Clifford Chance and Baker McKenzie to strengthen its banking and finance practice in Germany.
Clifford Chance partner Arne Klüwer will take on the role of head of banking and finance in Germany, as well as head of the newly-created structured finance practice in Europe.
Klüwer, who was at Clifford Chance for 16 years and was promoted to partner in 2004, has a practice focused on securitisation and structured finance, advising on restructuring, workouts and loan trading transactions.
Klüwer joined alongside structured finance senior associate Mortimer Berlet, who will be promoted to partner as part of the move.
Dentons has also hired partner Matthias Eggert and associate Timo Reister from Baker McKenzie.
Eggert joined Baker McKenzie in 2008 from Hengeler Mueller, where he worked for five years. His practice centres on securitisation, corporate finance and restructuring; advising on portfolio transactions as well as financing.
These hires are part of Dentons’ strategy to grow its banking and finance practice in Europe and boost the firm’s cross-border transaction.
In a statement, the firm said: “Through these hires, Dentons will gain one of the strongest structured finance and securitisation offerings in the German market and more widely in Europe.”
Munich office managing partner Alexander von Bergwelt said: “When we opened the Munich office last year, one of our priorities was to establish a strong banking and finance team to serve our clients in Munich. With the recruitment of Matthias, Timo and Carl, we have taken a big step forward in our strategy.”
The Clifford Chance departures come as the firm has launched a global review of its equity structure, introducing gates to its equity and could see it bring entire offices down to a 70-point plateau.
At the time of reporting, Clifford Chance’s German offices were understood to have voluntarily carried out an equity restructuring to move down to the 70-point system, ahead of any formal decisions made by the firm’s leadership group.
Meanwhile, Dentons UKMEA posted a 7.7 per cent increase in turnover to £169m in 2015/16, up from £157m the year before, while the member with highest entitlement to profits rose to £1.3m.
Earlier this year, Dentons continued its European expansion, merging with Dutch firm Boekel, based in Amsterdam.
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