Allen & Overy has recruited a capital markets partner from Ashurst in Frankfurt.
Christoph Enderstein, who spent six years as an associate with the magic circle firm prior to joining Ashurst in 2007, specialises in debt and structured finance deals. He made partner at the UK firm in 2008, having joined as an of counsel.
Enderstein’s arrival at Allen & Overy strengthens the firm’s German offering in an area where it had been lacking – at a partner level, at least – since derivatives and structured finance specialist Okko Behrends switched to Latham & Watkins in mid-2013.
In the past two years, the complexion of Allen & Overy’s German capital markets practice, which now comprises 35 lawyers including six partners, has changed noticebly. Enderstein is the second partner to join the team in 2015 after Shearman & Sterling partner Marc Plepelits began work at the Frankfurt branch last month. The US capital markets specialist was recruited to replace Gernot Wagner, the magic circle outfit’s former head of US issues, who was poached by White & Case’s rival office in Germany’s financial capital last December.
In the past five years, Wagner helped Allen & Overy's German capital markets head, Oliver Seiler, establish an excellent reputation for the firm for securities advice in Germany, although it is still not generally seen as one of the top tier practices in the country. But while his departure was a blow, Plepelits is very experienced and highly regarded in German speaking countries, especially for high yield issues.
Ashurst recently expanded its German corporate practice with three hires from Beiten Burkhardt, recruiting its joint group head, Thomas Sacher, counsel Volker Germann and an associate in Munich in January.
