Rowe & Maw expands through merger

UK law firm, Rowe & Maw has merged with US-based Mayer Brown & Platt. The merger will add 15 private equity partners in New York and three in London to Rowe & Maw’s existing PE 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 over 1,300 lawyers and European offices in Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, London, Manchester and Paris, and in the US in Chicago, where Mayer Brown & Platt is headquartered, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto and Washington DC. Last year Mayer Brown & Platt, the sixth largest US law firm, merged with Paris firm Lambert & Lee and the Frankfurt office of Gaedertz, where it also has a private equity team. In the US 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 UK 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.