Proskauer names partner from KWM – Exclusive

Proskauer has hired Stephen Pevsner as partner in its London office, private funds management has learned.

He begins his new position at the New York-based law firm on Monday, a source familiar with the matter said.

Pevsner will focus on UK and international M&A and private equity transactions, corporate restructurings and new business formations. His client base will consist of corporations, investment banks, private equity firms and institutional investors, according to Proskauer.

Aside from transactional advising, Pevsner also counsels private equity fund formation and limited partnership formation.

Prior to joining Proskauer, Pevsner was a tax partner at London-based King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), where he had worked since June 2008, according to his LinkedIn profile. Earlier in his career, Pevsner was a counsel in the tax department at another London-based law firm, Linklaters.

Pevsner’s appointment follows several hires in 2016 within Proskauer’s private funds practice. In September, the firm named Monica Arora, formerly of White & Case, as a New York-based private equity partner. In London, the firm brought Vikki McKay onboard as a private real estate partner and Eleanor Shanks as a private equity partner.

His departure from KWM is one of many in recent days, as the ailing firm prepares go to into administration. KWM’s private equity lawyer Simon Witney left KWM to join Debevoise and Plimpton as a consultant on 16 January. Its secondaries team – consisting of Jonathan Pittal, Warran Allan, Gabriel Boghossian and Will Holder, among others –left to join law firms Stephenson Harwood and Baker & McKenzie.

As previously reported by pfm, KWM has accumulated debts of around £30 million ($36.7 million; €34.9 million). It filed a notice of intention in December to appoint administrators, designed to protect it from creditors and maintain its client services.

Among its private fund activities, Proskauer has advised Ares Management on the formation of its Ares Capital Europe III, which closed on €2.5 billion in June; Montagu Private Equity’s Montagu Fund V, which closed on €2.75 billion in August 2015; and Gilde Buy Out Partners’ Gilde Buy-Out Fund V, which closed on €1.1 billion in November 2015, according to the firm.