Rowe Maw Expands Through Merger –

U.K. law firm Rowe & Maw has merged with U.S.-based Mayer Brown & Platt to create a new global top-10 firm. The merger will add 15 private equity partners in New York and three in London to Rowe & Maw’s existing private equity team of five partners, based in London.

Paul Maher, head of Rowe & Maw’s corporate group, said, “Private equity is one of the areas where we want to build critical mass and market recognition. The merger will help us to develop our already strong M&A practice.”

The new firm will have more than 1,300 lawyers and European offices in Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, London, Manchester and Paris, as well as Chicago, where Mayer Brown & Platt is headquartered, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto and Washington D.C. Last year, Mayer Brown & Platt, the sixth largest U.S. law firm, merged with Paris firm Lambert & Lee and the Frankfurt office of Gaedertz, where it also has a private equity team. In the U.S., the firm has advised private equity clients including CIBC Capital Partners, JP Morgan Partners, Marconi Capital and Siemens affiliate Mustang Ventures.

Tyrone Fahner, chairman of the new group, said, “We will also continue to seek opportunities for growth through aggressively recruiting finance partners in the U.K. and on the Continent.”

In November, Rowe & Maw advised on the GBP4 million MBO of VFG’s manufacturing and sales division financed by Close Brothers Private Equity and Royal Bank of Scotland. Maher said, following the merger, Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw hopes to advise on larger deals in key European markets.