Leading global law firm Baker McKenzie has hired highly regarded financial sponsor and M&A partner Nick Rainsford from Ashurst, as part of the Firm's strategy to grow its transactional teams. 

Nick is a highly experienced transactional lawyer who has built an excellent reputation in M&A in energy, renewables and the broader infrastructure arena, having acted on broad range of deals for financial sponsors. Nick recently advised DIF, Aberdeen Standard and LPP on their acquisition of Elenia Heat in Finland.

Commenting, David Allen, London Head of Corporate, said: "Nick has an outstanding reputation in the infrastructure M&A market amongst financial sponsors and intermediaries. Baker McKenzie has been at the forefront of investments by sponsors in the infrastructure asset class over the last decades and Nick joining us will add renewed momentum and credibility to our offering in this space. Nick's profile fits perfectly into our fast-growing, high-performing financial sponsor team, bringing the number of our London financial sponsor partners to 10."  

London Managing Partner Alex Chadwick added: "We are very excited about Nick joining our corporate team in London. Nick is the 18th lateral partner who has joined our corporate team in London over the last 3 years, reflecting our ambitions to become one of the leading transactional Firms globally and in the money markets. His practice is also firmly aligned with our strong industry focus. Nick has a long track record of doing deals in the energy and broader infrastructure industry which will create significant synergies for us with the other investments we have made in the broader Energy, Mining and Infrastructure (EMI) arena. We will continue to grow our transactional partnership in London and other key markets, both laterally and organically".

Nick Rainsford's hire complements the appointment of Private Equity Partner, Justin Hutchinson, who joined from Kirkland & Ellis last January, Adam Eastell, previously a Partner at Slaughter & May, and Nick Bryans, also from Ashurst, as well as the investments made in the EMI space, with the recent hires of Philip Thomson from Ashurst, Antonio Morales in Spain from Lathams and Christopher Jones and Klaus-Dieter in Brussels from the energy team in the European Commission. 

Baker McKenzie is a transactional powerhouse with over 2,500 deal lawyers and expertise in over 46 countries. We excel in cross-border deals - over 60% of our deals are multi-jurisdictional. We are global and local, combining money market sophistication with local excellence.