Latham & Watkins Adds Private Equity Duo from Sidley in London

Latham & Watkins Adds Private Equity Duo from Sidley in London

Latham & Watkins expanded its London private funds capability with the appointment of two partners from US rival Sidley Austin.

Mateja Maher and Adrian Grocock will join the London office as partners in the Private Equity and Investment Funds Practice.

Highly regarded in their field, Maher and Grocock focus on structuring and establishing private funds across a variety of investment strategies, including buyout, infrastructure, real estate, and debt. They also advise across all types of secondary transactions.

Maher and Grocock have extensive experience advising on a wide variety of complex transactional matters, including multi-jurisdictional fund formations across asset classes, structured and synthetic secondary transactions, GP-led restructurings, and fund-level liquidity offerings. They also regularly advise on spin-outs of private equity groups, debt manager establishments, carried interest agreements, and related UK and European regulatory matters.

Stephen Kensell, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in London said, “Mateja and Adrian add tremendous experience to our strong and growing investment funds practice in London. They bring a sophisticated expertise to our platform and their wide-ranging practice across numerous sectors and asset classes is a perfect fit for our growth plans.”

Oliver Felsenstein, Global Chair of Latham & Watkins’ Private Equity & Investment Funds Practice, said: “Latham has a preeminent global reputation for advising fund sponsors and investors on a myriad of complex, cross-border transactions and fundraisings. We continue to see an increasing sophistication and complexity of deals across Europe and globally, and their expertise strongly complements our talented team. Mateja and Adrian are dynamic, hands-on, and entrepreneurial lawyers, who will contribute significantly to the growth of our practice.”

Maher and Grocock joined Latham from Sidley Austin’s London office.

Maher graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oxford before completing his Graduate Diploma in Law at Nottingham Law School. He joined Sidley as a partner in November 2019 from private capital advisory firm Campbell Lutyens, where he was general counsel. He has received the title ‘next generation partner’ by the Legal 500 directory.

Grocock received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s from the London School of Economics before completing his Graduate Diploma in Law at BBP Law School. He had successful stints at Macfarlanes and Kirkland & Ellis. He joined Sidley in June 2020.

Latham and Sidley have been ranked by the Legal 500 alongside each other in the third band for private funds work with Kirkland & Ellis and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett sitting in the first tier.