‘We have a remit to build’ – ex-Latham team open up on Sidley’s bold City lev-fin play

Of their first interview since leaving Latham & Watkins, Jayanthi Sadanandan and Sam Hamilton talk about their new roles as international co-heads of Sidley Austin’s leveraged finance observe

‘Sidley desires to supply a best-in-class monetary sponsor authorized service – Sam and I’ve constructed out a observe earlier than and we all know how to do that,’ says Sadanandan as she and Hamilton sit down to speak to LB on their first day at Sidley. 

‘That is  an thrilling alternative for us – we’ve a remit to construct and Sidley has been very clear in its dedication to this space.’  

Authorized 500 Corridor of Famer Hamilton and main accomplice Sadanandan, who’ve labored collectively for 20 years, joined Sidley this week (1 October) having give up Latham in August after practically 15 years on the agency.

The pair have joined alongside fellow Latham alumni Fergus O’Domhnaill, Joseph Kimberling and Ben Wright – with all 5 companions now sitting inside Sidley’s international finance observe, and Sadanandan and Hamilton taking over newly created roles main the leveraged finance providing worldwide. 

The staff will focus totally on constructing a borrower-side observe for personal fairness sponsors, corporates and personal credit score funds, though it could lengthen to lender work at purchasers’ request.

 ‘Our focus is on the non-public fairness finance facet to raised help the non-public fairness platform,’ confirms Sadanandan. ‘As a transactional lawyer my objective is all the time simply to get the deal accomplished however, significantly in difficult market situations, I believe the pursuits between borrower facet and lender facet can diverge so it may be tougher attempting to handle each side.’

Sadanandan, who featured as a deal star in final yr, has labored with purchasers together with Permira, Blackstone, and CVC, whereas Hamilton’s key purchasers embrace Nordic Capital, Advanz Pharma, and Soho Home. 

Sidley’s common PE purchasers embrace Apollo International Administration, KKR and Carlyle.

Hamilton says there have been two fundamental causes for selecting to affix Sidley.  ‘We know everybody out there who does our sort of legislation and we felt that Sidley was a agency that has a whole lot of momentum and we preferred the administration mindset of eager to develop in London, which we might help with. Secondly, after we started talks with Sidley, we loved assembly the individuals and there was a cultural match by way of how all of us take into consideration the world.’  

‘When it comes to dimension and the variety of individuals, we don’t have a selected goal in thoughts. It’s client-driven – in case you do a terrific job, purchasers offer you extra work, and different purchasers will hear about it, making a snowball impact. We count on that may occur.’

Sadanandan provides: ‘After we had been approached, we realised there have been a whole lot of synergies. Sidley is a longstanding legislation agency with a heritage that goes again 158 years, and we preferred how it’s a full-service legislation agency already in London. It already has the items in play and what Sidley is trying to do now’s deepen the breadth of the bench and the breadth of the providing for his or her non-public fairness purchasers.’  

Sidley has been making a concerted push within the profitable PE house as a part of its broader enlargement plans, bringing in Ramy Wahbeh as co-leader of the agency’s international non-public fairness observe and co-head of the London company group, together with M&A accomplice Kaisa Kuusk, each of whom joined from Paul Weiss in June of final yr.  

Commenting on the hires Sidley administration committee chair Yvette Ostolaza says:  ‘I believe in case you’ve obtained the suitable staff, then you can be delivering the kind of service purchasers expect. And that’s what we’re going to be centered on, a really team-oriented strategy that may ship outcomes for the shopper; with purchasers very a lot on the entrance and centre of our observe.’

The newest hires take Sidley to greater than 200 attorneys in London, together with greater than 50 companions – which means the workplace has grown by practically a 3rd over the past seven years.

And the enlargement is way from over, with Ostolaza highlighting capital markets, excessive yield, and disputes and investigations as areas for additional enlargement in London, in addition to extra progress in non-public fairness.

There will even be an emphasis on constructing cross-border groups that serve purchasers in APAC, the Center East, and London. ‘We’re chatting with quite a lot of laterals in these areas,’ she feedback.  

The plans come after Sidley reported one other robust monetary efficiency, with the agency’s complete revenues reaching the $3bn mark in 2023, a 6.1% enhance from the earlier yr.

The agency has loved a protracted streak of income will increase after making a strategic resolution within the mid-2010s, to extend its deal with the non-public capital sector and Ostolaza says it’s on observe for an additional good yr.  

‘Our first half of 2024 is off to a roaring begin. Transactional exercise has elevated, disputes has additionally risen, so we’re anticipating to have surpassed all metrics. We’re enthusiastic about this staff as a result of it’s a part of our progress technique,’ she provides.

Within the US, the agency is aiming to strengthen its workplaces in San Diego, which launched in August, and South Florida and Miami workplaces, which opened in 2022. Alongside its emphasis on non-public fairness, Ostolaza identified that there will even be a robust deal with key business sectors, together with life sciences, healthcare, power, transportation, expertise, media, sports activities, and leisure. 

She concludes: ‘We’re nonetheless in a progress mindset, though we’re established. There’s disruption happening within the authorized business – we’re seeing increasingly more mergers, and we wish to be one of many beneficiaries of this disruption on behalf of our purchasers. I believe we’re going to have one other banner yr.’

Sadanandan and Hamilton had been a part of a four-partner staff that moved to Latham from White & Case in 2010 in a transfer that planted the seeds for the Los Angeles-bred agency’s dominance in Europe’s leveraged finance market. 

elisha.juttla@legalease.co.uk