Sidley Austin has added to its corporate finance practice in Hong Kong with the hire of Alex Lloyd. Although he has worked at UK firm Clifford Chance since 1996, Lloyd is a US-qualified lawyer who specialises in securities transactions.
"Alex is an experienced capital markets lawyer who brings a wealth of experience in the high-yield and capital markets arenas," said William Fifield, Sidley's managing partner for Greater China, in a statement. "He will be a key player in our already deep bench of over 50 corporate lawyers in Asia-Pacific."
Lloyd, who made partner in 2005, recently advised on transactions such as the Hong Kong initial public offering of Silver Base for UBS, and a high-yield bond issued by Buma, which was arranged by Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and ING. In joining Sidley, he will be supported in winning future mandates by a firm that calls the US home and that has a reputation for structuring innovative financings.
Market conditions should also help to bring clients through the door, Thomas Albrecht, who has responsibility for Asia on Sidley's management committee, said in the firm's statement. "As the region continues its unprecedented economic growth, capital raising will be necessary to fuel that growth, and we anticipate that the high-yield debt and equity capital markets will continue to be very active."
Legal industry media report that Clifford Chance has reacted to Lloyd's departure by transferring Crawford Brickley, the head of its Asia capital markets team, to Hong Kong.
