DLA Piper has appointed Denise R Hamer to its Finance & Projects group. Denise will divide her time between the firm’s Vienna, London and Prague offices.

Prior to joining DLA Piper, Denise was a partner at Richards, Kibbe & Orbe in London and before that, Schoenherr in Vienna. She also held senior roles at several financial institutions, including the Austrian portfolio bank of Cerberus Capital, BAWAG P.S.K, Citigroup and Societe Generale, as well as the consultancy Arthur Andersen.

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Cooley announces that it will enhance its London business and finance practice with the hiring of Stephen Rosen, a leading London-based private equity and venture capital partner.

Rosen has experience advising high-growth companies, institutional investors, entrepreneurs and management teams on corporate transactions. He has particular expertise in company sales and purchases, mergers and acquisitions and private equity and venture capital financings across a range of industry sectors.

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The Firm has represented Blackstone Capital Partners and CVC Capital Partners on the sale of their respective remaining stakes in Merlin Entertainments Plc (“Merlin”). The secondary offering, which was effected pursuant to a block trade by way of an accelerated book build, raised gross sale proceeds of approximately £653 million (US$1 billion). The sale was the last in a series of block trades which has seen Blackstone and CVC reduce their stakes in Merlin from approximately 21% and 12% respectively to zero since the time of Merlin’s IPO in November 2013, raising aggregate total gross sale proceeds of approximately £1.3 billion (US$2 billion). More >>

Dentons has advised L1 Energy, the market leading global oil and gas investment fund of the LetterOne Group advised by Pamplona Capital Management, in relation to the completion and shareholder funding of its acquisition of RWE Dea AG, the oil and gas unit of RWE AG, Germany’s largest power generator, for debt and equity consideration of US$5.7 billion. More >>

Atsumi & Sakai has established an office in London, becoming the first Japanese firm to open its doors in the UK.

The London office, which operates under the name Atsumi & Sakai Europe Limited, advises clients on all aspects of Japanese law, with a focus on M&A, banking, capital markets and securities regulation.
Corporate partner Ryuichi Nozaki has relocated from Tokyo to head Atsumi & Sakai’s London office. He is supported by Tokyo-based senior partner Hiroki Mori, who oversees the firm’s European practice group in Japan. More >>

International law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (BLP) has today (25 February 2015) announced the appointment of real estate finance specialist, Daniyal Ansari, as Partner in its Real Estate Finance (REF) Group. He will join the firm on 4 March 2015.

Previously a partner in the London banking team at Eversheds LLP, Daniyal brings a broad range of real estate finance expertise including investment, development and complex structured debt. More >>