Allen & Overy (A&O) has hired a team of five structured finance lawyers in London from US rival Milbank ahead of its merger with Shearman & Sterling.  

The team is led by partner John Goldfinch, who has spent the past 12 years at Milbank, and includes two senior associates and two associates.  

Goldfinch brings a broad structured finance, securitisation and derivatives practice to A&O, with a particular focus on the CLO and related markets. At Milbank his work included advising the National Bank of Greece on the financing for the development of mining projects and Spain’s Werfen on its $2bn acquisition of US diagnostics business Immucor from TPG. He also co-led a team that advised Greek lender Attica Bank on the sale of its securitised NPL portfolio to US PE firm Pimco.  

A&O said that private capital client revenue had increased by more than 60% globally during the past two years and that Goldfinch’s hire would support further growth in this space.  

“John’s arrival will further strengthen our bench working with private capital sponsor clients accessing the structured capital markets,” said David Lucking, A&O’s global head of international capital markets. “We look forward to welcoming him to the team.” 

Alongside Goldfinch and his team A&O has made lateral hires across funds, private equity and distressed debt recently to bolster its strength across multiple investments strategies. Last month restructuring and insolvency lawyer Haris Meyer Hanif rejoined the firm in Dubai from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where he was MENA head of finance for more than a decade, and around the same time funds lawyer Tiffany Toh joined as a partner in Singapore from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.  

Last September, private capital partner Sophie Jermine also joined the London office from Akin, just a few weeks after Elaine Hughes joined in New York from national US firm Lowenstein Sandler, where she was co-chair of the firm’s investment management group.  

The hires precede A&O’s merger with Shearman & Sterling, which is set to be complete by May after being almost unanimously agreed by the partnerships of both firms last October. The merged firm, to be known as A&O Shearman, will have revenues of around $3.5bn and almost 4,000 lawyers globally.   

A&O has also seen a number of departures in the run up to the merger, including managing partner Gareth Price and its London head of derivatives and structured finance Emma Dwyer, who left last month after 28 years at the firm.