Kirkland & Ellis capital markets partner Nicholas Norris has left the firm to become a senior legal adviser at alternative asset management company GLP Capital Partners.
A Kirkland partner since 2011, Norris has advised private equity firms, investment banks, and corporations on capital market transactions such as M&A, private equity investment, and corporate finance in the SAR and PRC. He joined Kirkland from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, prior to which he was at Simmons & Simmons.
Norris' notable deals included advising Nesta Investment Holdings on its $11.6 billion acquisition of Global Logistic Properties (GLP), Asia's biggest warehouse operator; representing Golden Lincoln Holdings on its $931 million privatization of Hong Kong-listed global sourcing and logistics group Li & Fung; and acting Blackstone Group on its $1.1 billion acquisition of a majority stake in Indian IT outsourcing services provider Mphasis.
His departure comes at a time when Kirkland Hong Kong has seen a steady stream of partner exits. Last August, Ethan Chen, another capital markets partner, joined Norton Rose Fulbright, while restructuring lawyer Jacqueline Wenchen Tang moved to Sullivan & Cromwell in May.
They followed the 2022 exits of Howie Farn, who moved to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Li-Chien Wong, who took up a role at HKEx, and white-collar crime specialist Richard Sharpe, who joined King & Spalding in Singapore. That year the firm also hired Peng Yu from Ropes & Gray, and Brian Ho from the SFC.
Additionally, media have reported that Kirkland Hong Kong partner David Zhang is set to retire from the firm soon.
With Norris' departure, Kirkland now has 32 partners, including four capital market partners, in Hong Kong.
