Leeds office “reaps rewards” of Pinsent Masons’ international presence
The head of the Leeds office of law firm Pinsent Masons has said they have “reaped the rewards” of the wider firm’s strong international performance.
Global turnover reached £423.1m for the year, an 11% increase on the year before.
During the year, the Leeds office advised Indian conglomerate Nirma in its acquisition of Lafarge India for an enterprise value of approximately $1.4bn.
Within the region it has also advised listed residential developer Grainger with their forward acquisition of the first phase of the former Yorkshire Post site in Leeds from YP Real Estate for around £40m.
Chris Booth, head of the Leeds office, said: “I’m delighted we have had such a positive year in which we have reaped the rewards of a strong performance internationally, helping many of our clients in the region to achieve their commercial objectives at home and abroad.
“In the year ahead I hope our clients will continue to see the benefit of having a truly international law firm, with deep sector specialisms, on their doorstep.”
Internationally it opened its first office in Africa in Johannesburg, appointed partners to its Madrid practice and expanded plans for Dublin and its Australia operations.
It also acquired a 20% stake in start-up business Yuzu, a legal sourcing proposition for business that lies between in-house, private practice and traditional managed legal service models
Pinsent Masons also heralded reaching its 25% target of women in partnership by 2018 after appointing 16 partners.
Across the firm, it advised AMC on a string of cinema acquisitions across Europe for $1.9bn, advised the Yudean Group on its $1.5bn acquisition of a joint control stake in Attarat Power Company, and acted for Samsung C&T on the AUD$2bn Roy Hill Iron Ore Mining dispute, amongst other standout actions.
John Cleland, managing partner at Pinsent Masons, said: “We remain committed to our vision of being recognised as an international market leader in our global sectors, and this has been borne out by the investments we have made and will continue to make.
“We are expanding our business to support clients not just across a wider range of geographies and legal service lines, but also across alternative forms of delivery model which provide innovative ways to address the challenges they face.
“That we have been able to combine that growth with improved profitability gives us significant confidence going into what is an unpredictable year.”
