Global law firm Reed Smith has hired several teams, including 17 partners, three counsel, 22 associates, one jurist and seven trainees, as well as two knowledge management lawyers and six secretaries, from King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) to its London, Frankfurt, Munich and Paris offices. The partners and their teams are expected to join the firm on 23 January and follow several lawyers and business services personnel who joined the firm on 16 January.   “It is a mutually rewarding opportunity,” says Tamara Box, managing partner for Europe and the Middle East. “These teams recognised that our global platform, strong

Ylan Steiner, head of the London venture capital team at King & Wood Mallesons, has joined Orrick as a partner in its technology companies group, resident in the London office. This addition follows the arrival of Christoph Brenner, head of KWM’s German corporate practice, who joined the firm as a partner in Orrick’s Munich office earlier this month.   “Ylan is deeply respected in the London technology, venture capital and growth equity community. Having worked across the table from him for more than 15 years, I hold him in the highest regard and am thrilled that he is joining our team,”

GenNx360 Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm investing in middle market industrial manufacturing and business services companies, has appointed Daphne Dufresne as a managing partner.   Dufresne will be actively engaged in all aspects of GenNx360's investment activities and portfolio management, and will be a voting member of the firm's investment committee.   Prior to joining GenNx360, Dufresne was a founding partner and managing director of RLJ Equity Partners where she was responsible for sourcing, executing and monitoring investments, management of the firm, fundraising, chaired a number of the firm's portfolio company boards, and was a member of

Private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners has appointed Irene Hong Edwards as principal and head of investor relations. “We are thrilled to welcome Irene to Lovell Minnick as we build out investor relations to better serve our limited partners,” says co-chairman Jeffrey D Lovell. “We are confident her depth of experience on both the fundraising and investor relations fronts will prove to be valuable assets as we nurture our very important existing investor relationships and cultivate new ones.”   Hong Edwards, who will be based in New York, brings to Lovell Minnick more than 15 years of experience in alternative

LionTree, a global investment and merchant banking firm focused on media, technology and telecommunications, is building on its operations in New York, San Francisco and London with the opening of a Paris office. Fatine Layt, a banking executive and entrepreneur, has joined LionTree to lead the new office and grow the firm’s differentiated offerings in the region.   The expansion of LionTree’s international presence will enhance the firm’s ability to identify and execute on the best opportunities for clients in an increasingly global market.   LionTree’s Paris office will provide France-based clients with direct access to the firm’s industry expertise,

Private equity firm JW Childs Associates has appointed Joseph M Fortunato as operating partner. He will focus on evaluating, acquiring and growing businesses in the specialty retail industry.   “After 25 years of working with Joe as a leader in the specialty retail sector, I am delighted he is formally joining the JW Childs team,” says Bill Watts, partner, JW Childs Associates. “Joe has tremendous operating, financial and board management experience with retail businesses and has been instrumental in helping me steward numerous JW Childs portfolio companies. Like all of our operating partners, Joe brings a long track record of

Independent Growth Finance (IGF), a commercial finance provider for SMEs, has appointed Nick Price as chief financial officer (CFO). As CFO, Price is responsible for helping to deliver on the company’s ambitions to support more SMEs across the UK and empower these businesses to grow. Whilst creating this atmosphere of growth, Price must ensure IGF’s financial risk is appropriately managed and stakeholder management remains strong.    Before joining IGF, Price held the interim CFO position at OakNorth, following a six year career at Close Brothers where he was finance director for the commercial division. His previous employment includes KPMG, Goldman

Orrick Rambaud Martel has appointed M&A and private equity adviser Guillaume Kessler as a partner in Paris. Kessler joins Orrick from Olswang where he served as managing partner of the Paris office and head of the Paris corporate group.   "We are delighted to continue to grow our French corporate practice with a practitioner of Guillaume’s calibre," says Saam Golshani, head of Orrick’s French M&A and private equity group. "He is a recognised player in the French market, with particularly deep ties to the technology sector and a go-to source for the private equity market. We’ve worked across the table

Ogier has strengthened its Luxembourg investment fund team with the appointment of Anne-Gaëlle Delabye as a managing associate. Delabye (pictured) focuses on investment funds and regulatory work, with a particular specialism in the regulated investment funds sector.   She previously worked as head of regulatory and investment management at the Luxembourg office of a French firm.   The new recruitment is part of a plan of sustained investment in Ogier's Luxembourg office, which has grown significantly since it was established five years ago, and which now includes almost 20 lawyers.   The new unregulated fund product, reform of company law,

Modern Energy Management (MEM), a specialist in delivering project lifecycle certainty to renewable energy developers, financiers and investors, has appointed Kyle Katoski as head of project origination for South-East Asia. With extensive experience across Asia, Katoski (pictured) will lead business development from the firm’s Singapore headquarters.   The appointment comes as MEM prepares for growth in 2017. In particular, the firm will be looking to Pakistan, Vietnam and Myanmar as three of its key markets in the coming year, while continuing to build on its project development heritage in Thailand. Pakistan is set to more than triple the number of