Stewart Kagan is joining Cadwalader from the
Kagan specialises in leveraged buy-outs and has negotiated more than $40bn (£20.3bn) in financing for private equity deals. Prior to joining Akin Gump in 2006, he had been a partner at O’Melveny & Myers, which he joined in 2002 when it acquired private equity boutique O’Sullivan.
Separately, Geoffrey Levin is joining Cadwalader from Kirkland & Ellis, where he was a partner specialising in the representation of private equity sponsors and fund general partners.
He has frequently represented leading private equity shop CVC Capital Partners, most recently on its $2bn (£1.01bn) acquisition of chemical distributor Univar last year.
Both will be based at Cadwalader’s
The hires come with Cadwalader currently making a major push into private equity. In February, the firm recruited Ronald Hopkinson, the former private equity chief at Latham & Watkins, to head up the practice.
The push in private equity is seen as a response to the collapse in the firm’s core mortgage-backed securities practice in the wake of the credit crunch.
Commenting on the hires Christopher White, chairman of Cadwalader, said: “This marks another important step in our efforts to build a market-leading private equity practice.
“We have continued to diversify our services and expand our corporate capabilities and are now well-poised to assist private equity transaction participants in creating and taking advantage of the opportunities that will become available as we emerge from the credit crisis.”
