News

LEADING UK BANKING/FINANCE SPECIALIST JAMES GRAHAM

TO BOOST ALLEN & OVERY'S CEE PRACTICE

Allen & Overy announced today that English banking/finance senior associate, James Graham, has relocated as of May 2009 from the London office of Allen & Overy to the firm's regional CEE practice and will be based in its Budapest office. James's relocation comes in response to an increasing demand from A&O's clients for sophisticated English law advice in the areas of banking, projects, debt capital markets and restructuring across the CEE and SEE region.

James Graham joined A&O in 1999 and is a qualified English Solicitor. He has a broad financing expertise including syndicated lending, acquisition finance and securitisations. James will add significant strength to the highly regarded banking and finance practice of A&O in the CEE. The practice has consistently received top tier rankings in legal directories since the launch of A&O's operations in the region and the ability to provide sophisticated English law expertise from a team embedded within the region is regarded as the next natural step in the development of that practice.

James has extensive experience in a wide range of financing transactions, with particular expertise in investment grade lending and leveraged finance. His recent experience includes advising on "jumbo" investment grade transaction such as the USD45 billion senior and USD9.8 billion equity bridge facilities for InBev's acquisition of Anheuser Busch, the USD55 billion facility of BHP Billiton to finance the acquisition of Rio Tinto and the EUR9 billion facility for RWE's acquisition of Essent; leveraged financings including the EUR400 million financing for the acquisition of De Weide Blik/Bocchi and the €3.35bn senior and €1bn mezzanine financing for the acquisition of Casema and Kabelcom; emerging markets transaction such as the USD5 billion corporate facility for Dubai World Corporation, the investment arm of the Dubai government and several recent restructurings. James also worked on the first three Dutch CMBS structures including the EUR1.07 billion and EUR279.5 million financing for Uni-Invest.

Regional Managing Partner for Central Europe, Jane Townsend, commented: “CEE is a key market for A&O and we are committed to a long-term presence in this region. James Graham's relocation to the region is part of our ongoing investment in the growth of our CEE practice across all of our major practice areas. ”

Commenting, James Graham, said: “I am excited to be joining A&O's CEE banking/finance team, most of whom I already know and have worked with,  and am looking forward to maximising the opportunities which we all have to grow the practice in the next stage of its development."

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