Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has made a rare foray into the London lateral hire market with the addition of a new M&A partner.

Ben Spiers (an IFLR1000 Leading Lawyer) joins the firm from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

He focuses on M&A, debt capital markets and restructuring work and his clients include the likes of BT, Smith & Nephew and Hewlett Packard.

Recent mandates include advising on Micro Focus's $8.8 billion acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise software assets; and advising Fresenius Helios on the €5.76 billion acquisition of Quirónsalud.

The deal represents Simpson's first London hire since Gil Strauss joined the firm in 2014.