Cleary Gottlieb Elects 13 New Partners and Counsel

Cleary Gottlieb has elected three partners and 10 counsel, effective January 1, 2018.

The elections will bring the firm’s total worldwide partners to 194 and counsel to 65.

“It is a great pleasure to announce the election of our new partners and counsel,” said Cleary Gottlieb Managing Partner Michael Gerstenzang. “This talented group of lawyers reflects Cleary Gottlieb’s global strength and our commitment to excellence. They embody the intellectual curiosity and dedication to client service that are critical to understanding our clients’ needs and delivering the highest-quality service. We are delighted to have them join the ranks of our senior lawyers.”

The new partners and counsel are resident in the firm’s Brussels, London, New York, Paris, and Washington, D.C. offices. Their broad spectrum of practice areas includes antitrust, banking and financial institutions, capital markets, employee compensation and benefits, leveraged and acquisition finance, litigation and arbitration, mergers and acquisitions, structured finance, and tax.

The new partners and counsel are:

• Laura Bagarella, counsel, focuses on executive compensation and employee benefits matters, including the design, taxation, and implementation of employee equity and equity-based compensation and incentive arrangements; annual and periodic compensation disclosure obligations; the employment and executive compensation-related aspects of public and private merger and acquisition transactions; and private equity compensation and governance matters. She is resident in the New York office. Laura has provided assistance on employment aspects to Google on a variety of transactions, including its $1.1 billion business cooperation agreement with HTC Corporation, and to Warburg Pincus and its portfolio companies on a variety of transactions, including its acquisition of CityMD. She has also advised Actavis in the $70.5 billion combination of Allergan and Actavis; Dollar Thrifty in its $2.3 billion acquisition by Hertz; TPG in its $2.25 billion acquisition of RCN and Grande Communications; The Home Depot in its $1.6 billion acquisition of Interline Brands, Inc.; Endurance International Group in its $1.1 billion acquisition of Constant Contact; and American Express in the formation of a Global Business Travel joint venture. Laura joined the firm in 2009.
• Andrea Basham, counsel, focuses on disclosure and ongoing reporting obligations of public companies, public and private offerings of securities in the United States and elsewhere, as well as investments in early stage companies. She is resident in the New York office. Andrea also advises on securities law and reporting aspects of mergers and acquisitions involving public companies. She has advised LINE Corporation in its dual-listed U.S.-Japan IPO; OCI in its announced $8 billion combination of its North American, European, and Global Distribution businesses with CF Industries; The Home Depot in its $1.6 billion acquisition of Interline Brands, Inc.; Family Dollar in its $9.3 billion acquisition by Dollar Tree; and Stanley Black & Decker in its $1.4 billion divestiture of its hardware and home improvement business to Spectrum Brands. Andrea is actively involved in the firm’s knowledge management efforts with respect to capital markets transactions and changes and developments in securities regulation. She also plays a primary role in the training and development of the firm’s corporate lawyers across practice areas. Andrea joined the firm as an associate in 2002 and rejoined in 2012. She was named a senior attorney in 2014.
• Hugh Conroy, Jr., partner, practices across a broad range of bank regulatory, transactional, and enforcement matters. Hugh has particular experience in U.S. bank regulatory aspects of issues arising out of complex structured finance transactions; derivative and structured derivative products; securities and commodities trading; mergers and acquisitions; and private equity investments. He is resident in the New York office. Hugh has devoted a significant portion of his practice to advice and advocacy regarding rules adopted following the Dodd-Frank Act, including those related to capital, liquidity, the Volcker Rule, and banking regulation of derivatives and securities financing transactions. He is currently advising individual banks and trade organizations in advocacy efforts related to potential changes in those rules in the new administration. From 2004 to 2011, Hugh served as associate general counsel at Citigroup, becoming a managing director in Citigroup’s Bank Regulatory Office in 2010. He was responsible primarily for U.S. bank and bank holding company regulatory advice to Citigroup’s global corporate and investment bank. Hugh joined the firm as counsel in 2011.
• Aseet Dalvi, counsel, focuses on international capital markets transactions, particularly high-yield debt, and English and U.S. securities law matters. He is resident in the London office. Aseet’s transactional experience spans a wide range of IPOs, high-yield debt issuances, liability management transactions and restructurings, convertible debt issuances, regulatory capital issuances, and complex public capital raisings by alternative investment funds. In the high-yield space, he has acted extensively for both underwriters and issuers, including recently having represented the underwriters in a $600 million senior notes offering by Puma International Financing S.A.; the underwriters in a €400 million senior notes offering by Nyrstar; and the underwriters in a €350 million senior secured notes offering by Cable Communication Systems N.V. (now Digi Communications N.V.), which was shortlisted for 2017 High Yield Deal of the Year by IFLR. Aseet’s transactional work outside of the high-yield space has included representing The Hellenic Republic in its €3 billion bond offering and switch and tender offer, marking the Republic’s 2017 return to the capital markets; the underwriters in a $1 billion senior notes offering by Pershing Square Holdings, among the very few bond offerings by an alternative investment fund; and the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners in the $2.73 billion IPO of Pershing Square Holdings. Aseet joined the firm in 2011.
• Guillaume de Rancourt, counsel, focuses on domestic and international litigation and arbitration. He has extensive experience in global investigations and compliance issues, with a particular emphasis on anti-money laundering, anti-terror financing, and anti-corruption matters. He is resident in the Paris office. He has represented Telecom Italia in defending annulment proceedings against a favorable award obtained in an ICC arbitration seated in Paris brought by the Opportunity Group; the French State in connection with the successful challenge before French courts of an arbitral award rendered in favor of French tycoon Bernard Tapie; Sanofi in proceedings brought by Rhodia in ad hoc arbitration proceedings governed by French law and related annulment proceedings of the award before the French courts; Nexans S.A. in an ICC arbitration brought by Madeco S.A., a Chilean cable manufacturer, regarding the post-closing purchase price adjustment for Nexans’ purchase of Madeco’s South American cable and wire business; Tatneft in the successful defense of a favorable award rendered in an arbitration seated in Paris arising from the ousting of our client from a Ukrainian oil joint venture; and Le Crédit Lyonnais in a terror financing lawsuit that is pending in New York. Guillaume joined the firm in 2005.
• Cunzhen Huang, counsel, focuses on antitrust matters under Chinese law, including merger reviews before China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). Cunzhen has represented clients on numerous high-profile transactions, including securing clearance for Dow Chemical in its $130 billion all-stock merger of equals with DuPont; Abbott Laboratories in its $25 billion acquisition of St. Jude Medical; GlaxoSmithKline in its multibillion-dollar three-part transaction with Novartis; Lenovo’s $2.3 billion acquisition of IBM’s x86 server business; and Western Digital in its $4.8 billion acquisition of Hitachi’s hard-drive business. Cunzhen joined the firm in January 2009, having previously interned in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition. She has authored important articles related to merger enforcement in China and regularly works with the ABA to provide comment on new antitrust laws and regulations under China’s Anti-Monopoly Law. She is a Special Legal Consultant, qualified in the People’s Republic of China, based in the Washington, D.C. office. Cunzhen was previously resident in the firm’s London and Brussels offices.
• Macey Levington, counsel, focuses on corporate and financial transactions as well as U.S. bank regulatory matters. He is resident in the Washington, D.C. office. His practice encompasses complex structured finance transactions including collateralized loan obligations, receivables securitizations, and asset-based lending arrangements. He regularly advises major underwriters such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho, and Natixis, and collateral managers such as CVC Credit Partners in the structuring and offering of CLOs, and has been instrumental in more than $19 billion in such transactions since 2014. Macey has also advised Verizon Communications in the establishment of a platform for the securitization of installment receivables generated by their sales of cell phones; Cushman & Wakefield in the securitization of facility receivables contracts; and Tech Data in the securitization of commercial trade receivables. Macey also has extensive experience advising financial institutions in structuring and negotiating asset-based lending transactions secured by portfolios of corporate loans and other fixed-income assets. Macey joined the firm as an associate in 2009.
• Shirley Lo, counsel, focuses on debt financing transactions. She is resident in the New York office. Her practice encompasses both investment-grade and leveraged finance, with a focus on financings in the context of complex transactions such as cross-border acquisitions and private equity investments. She recently advised on financing matters relating to the spin-off of Alcoa Corporation from Arconic Inc.; Tech Data’s $2.6 billion acquisition of Avnet’s TS business; Western Digital’s $18.1 billion acquisition of SanDisk; TPG’s $2.25 billion acquisition of RCN and Grande Communications and, subsequently, RCN’s acquisition of Wave Broadband; Warburg Pincus’s acquisition of Universal Services of America and, subsequently, Universal’s acquisition of Guardsmark and combination with Allied Barton; American Tower’s $5.056 billion acquisition of wireless tower assets from Verizon Communications; and the $70.5 billion combination of Allergan and Actavis. Shirley joined the firm as an associate in 2009.
• Abena Mainoo, partner, focuses on investigations and civil litigation. She is resident in the New York office. Abena frequently represents clients in government investigations and cross-border enforcement matters involving various authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She also represents clients in related securities class action lawsuits and other complex litigation. Her clients have included Citigroup in connection with its resolution of FX investigations by the DOJ and U.S. Federal Reserve; Bosch in litigation related to the Volkswagen emissions investigation; Petrobras in securities fraud litigation arising out of Operação Lava Jato; Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. and certain of its current and former officers and directors in the dismissal of a putative securities class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida; and BNP Paribas and HSBC in winning dismissal of $5.5 billion civil RICO and related state law claims in the Southern District of New York. Abena is a member of the Federal Bar Council Public Service Committee and served as its Secretary. Abena joined the firm as an associate in 2009.
• Jennifer Maskell, counsel, focuses on corporate taxation, with an emphasis on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance transactions, capital markets transactions, and structured financial products. She also advises on transaction taxes, such as VAT and stamp taxes, and her practice encompasses employment-related matters, such as management equity and incentives. She is resident in the London office. She has represented General Motors Co. in the sale of its Opel/Vauxhall subsidiary and GM Financial’s European operations to PSA Group; Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic in connection with the sale to Banco Santander of their 50 percent stake in Santander Asset Management; Barclays Bank PLC in the $790 million sale of its index benchmarking and risk analytics business, Barclays Risk Analytics and Index Solutions Ltd., to Bloomberg L.P.; Tele2 in the creation of a joint venture with Kazakhtelecom combining Tele2 Kazakhstan with Altel; TPG in its acquisition of Victoria Plum Limited and M.F.I. Direct Limited; and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the sale of its non-U.S. wealth management business to Julius Baer Group Ltd., involving the transfer of over 2,000 employees and approximately $84 billion of assets under management. Jennifer joined the firm in 2012.
• Richard Pepper, counsel, advises on European and UK competition law, including merger control, cartel investigations, behavioral matters, and litigation. He has extensive experience in a variety of sectors, including the manufacturing, music, health care, technology, agrochemicals, transportation, automotive, and mining industries. He is resident in the Brussels office. Richard has represented clients on numerous important matters before the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, and the UK Competition and Markets Authority, including ArcelorMittal on its bid for the steelmaking group Ilva; the Dow Chemical Company on its $130 billion merger of equals with DuPont; General Motors Co. on the sale of its Opel/Vauxhall subsidiary and GM Financial’s European operations to PSA Group; Sony Corporation of America on its $2.2 billion acquisition of EMI Music Publishing; UTC on its $18.4 billion acquisition of Goodrich (the largest aerospace transaction ever completed); Gazprom on its asset swap with BASF/Wintershall; and Lenovo on its $2.3 billion acquisition of the x86 server hardware and related maintenance services business from IBM. Richard joined the firm in 2011.
• Nallini Puri, partner, focuses on mergers and acquisitions. She is resident in the London office. She has advised various corporate clients and private equity funds on cross-border investments, including representing McDonald’s Corporation in the $2.08 billion formation of a joint venture company with CITIC Limited and The Carlyle Group that will act as the master franchisee responsible for McDonald’s businesses in mainland China and Hong Kong; Lafarge S.A. in its 50:50 joint venture with Anglo American plc to combine their UK cement businesses; HanesBrands in its acquisition of clothing company DBApparel from Sun Capital Partners; Barclays on the sale of its global index business to Bloomberg; and Vale in its $1.6 billion acquisition of holding interests in a potash project in Argentina and the Corumbá iron ore mine in Brazil from Rio Tinto. Nallini joined the firm in 2008.
• Jeanne Theuret, counsel, focuses on corporate matters, including capital markets transactions and mergers and acquisitions. She is resident in the Paris office and has also spent time in the firm’s Buenos Aires office. She has played a leading role in many of the most significant transactions in the French market, including three major transactions in 2017: the business combination between Alstom and Siemens Mobility; the corporate reorganization and capital increase of Carmila, a real estate affiliate of Carrefour; and the sale by General Motors Corp of its Opel/Vauxhall subsidiary and GM Financial’s European operations to PSA Group. She has played leading roles in many of the largest French market equity offerings in recent years, such as the IPOs of Europcar Group and Worldline, and represented the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in a complex debt rescheduling in connection with a settlement with two creditors that had declined to participate in a prior debt restructuring. Jeanne joined the firm in 2009.