Freshfields names new private equity leaders

Charles Hayes, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has named private equity partner Charles Hayes as the new co-head of its global financial investors group, replacing Adrian Maguire who moved to Kirkland & Ellis last month (9 January).

The appointment marks a fast career trajectory for Hayes, who joined Freshfields in 2004 as a solicitor and made partner at the magic circle firm just three years ago. He will take up his new role starting from 1 May.

One of Hayes’ core clients is private equity fund CVC Capital Partners, which he advised earlier this year on the its acquisition of a minority shareholding in Premier Rugby Limited, and on its $4.7bn sale of UK-based Sky Bet to Canadian betting company Stars Group last year.

Hayes also led the Freshfields' team advising CVC on its ultimately unsuccessful bid for Unilever’s spreads division in 2017.

Read: The real threat to Freshfields is not losing Maguire, it is losing CVC

Hayes will work alongside Frankfurt-based partner Markus Paul as co-head until Paul steps down in December, at which time corporate partner Arend von Riegen will succeed him.

Freshfields has seen a lot of change in its private equity ranks in recent years. The practice’s founder Chris Bown left the firm to join CVC as a legal adviser in 2013, while star partner David Higgins joined Kirkland as London co-managing partner at the end of 2017.

Stephan Eilers, the firm’s global managing partner, said: “Freshfields has a longstanding reputation for executing the market’s most complex deals – the deals other firms cannot do – and I know that this is the right team to ensure that our financial sponsor clients continue to get the best support from our teams across the globe.”

Last week (5 February), Freshfields named Andrew Hart as its global head of dispute resolution and appointed partner Sarah Parkes as its first London dispute resolution leader, a fortnight after it named New York partner Noiana Marigo as its first US-based international arbitration practice head.

Read: 'The modified lockstep has failed' – what Maguire’s move to Kirkland means for Freshfields