Australian private equity heavyweight joins Corrs

Australian firm Corrs Chamber Westgarth has hired private equity heavyweight Philip Kapp from rival firm Clayton Utz. Kapp specialises in advising on foreign investment in Australia and his client list is mostly made up of large US-based private equity firms. Kapp explained that his move to the Sydney practice at Corrs was prompted in part by the fact that Clayton Utz’s Hong Kong office was competition for his clients that use the US law firms based in Hong Kong. “Trust me, I’ve done most big private equity transactions and it’s really attractive for leading US and UK firms to have independent counsel in Australia that don’t compete with them in Hong Kong.” Kapp said that he has discussed the issue at length with Corrs CEO John Denton, who has made it clear that he does not intend to merge with a foreign firm or expand into Hong Kong. Kapp said: “Corrs is very focused on being a premier Australian firm; they’ve got a pretty good private equity team and have worked on some of the largest private equity deals in Australia. I think we’re on the same page."

Australian private equity heavyweight joins Corrs lawyersweekly.com.au Sat, Aug 18, 2012