Seedat steps up at Addleshaw Goddard
ONE of Yorkshire’s best known deal makers Yunus Seedat has been promoted to a new leadership role at Addleshaw Goddard following his appointment as national head of private equity.
Mr Seedat takes over from Andrew Carpenter, who has been appointed divisional managing partner for Addleshaw Goddard’s new international division.
The firm has also recently opened a new office in Hong Kong to target opportunities in the Far East.
Mr Carpenter and Manchester-based Jonathan Tattersall will each spend time in the new office, building closer links with the business community in Hong Kong and China.
Mr Seedat will combine key client responsibilities and deal doing with a focus on developing Addleshaw Goddard’s private equity group.
Since becoming a partner at Addleshaw Goddard in 2001, he has advised a range of private equity houses and management teams on numerous transactions.
Over the last 12 months Addleshaw Goddard’s private equity team has advised on transactions including Inflexion Private Equity on the management buyouts of Natural Products Worldwide and CTC Aviation Group; ECI on its investment in Clarke Energy and ISIS Equity Partners on its investment in sportswear brand Inov-8.
Mr Seedat said: “Our private equity practice has developed into one of the largest specialist teams in the UK. We are at the heart of the private equity market advising private equity houses, their portfolio companies and management teams, and I’m looking forward to building on this momentum to further develop our practice.”
Addleshaw Goddard’s private equity team is made up of nine partners, one legal director and 35 other fee earners. It is one of the largest UK teams in the mid market buy-out sector. Its client portfolio includes: 3i, Dunedin, ECI, Elysian, Graphite, Gresham, Inflexion, ISIS, LDC, North Edge and Phoenix.
Managing partner Paul Devitt said: “We have made very significant progress against the targets we set ourselves 12 months ago which included establishing offices in new and expanding international markets and more generally offering clients a stronger, more diverse cross-border capability.
“In addition to Hong Kong, we opened our first international office in Singapore, and have quickly built a strong full service capability in the Middle East through new offices in Dubai and Oman and we see good opportunities for growth in that region.”
