Ashurst announced the appointment of Heiko Penndorf as a partner in its Frankfurt office. Formerly a partner in Mayer Brown in Frankfurt, Heiko advises on a broad range of M&A, finance real estate and capital markets transactions. He was member of the team advising US financial investor Lone Star on various portfolio transactions. He was also part of the team that advised Volkswagen Financial Services AG on its first residual value securitisation and Soffin on establishing the first German 'bad bank.' A licensed tax consultant, Heiko worked at Ashurst prior to joining Mayer Brown. Tax associate Felix Krüger will also be joining the team from Mayer Brown.

Peter Junghänel, managing partner of Ashurst in Germany, commented:

"We are delighted to welcome Heiko to the partnership. He has a significant amount of transaction expertise and is a perfect match for our tax team, led by Klaus Herkenroth."

Heiko Penndorf added:

"Ashurst has an excellent reputation in Germany and internationally. Having worked at Ashurst previously, I look forward to working together with old and new colleagues and building upon the successes of the team."

In addition to the hires in the tax team, Ashurst is strengthening its banking practice, with the appointment of senior associate Petra Fendt who will also be joining from Mayer Brown. Petra has particular expertise in the area of trading non-performing loans and other loan portfolios.

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