U.S. law firm Shearman & Sterling's London-based partner Rahul Chatterji is taking his leveraged finance practice to rival UK firm Linklaters' Singapore outpost, Linklaters said Friday.
Chatterji, who leaves Shearman after less than two years there, focuses on cross-border financings and has a strong track record in offshore Indian transactions, Linklaters said in a statement.
Chatterji is slated to join the firm in May, initially in London, before relocating to Singapore. He will focus on the growing Indian and Southeast Asian leveraged finance markets and work with the firm’s global finance team to support clients in Asia, Linklaters said.
“The Indian economy is one of the fastest growing in the world and offers exciting opportunities for our clients to realize their global ambitions, Linklaters’ India head Narayan Iyer and Asia banking lead Philip Badge said jointly in a statement.
New York-founded Shearman has seen a string of recent departures, most recently in New York with capital markets lawyer Grissel Mercado moving to rival Paul Hastings. A majority of the exits have been outside the United States, with at least 16 partners departing since the fall including in London, Paris, Abu Dhabi and Munich.
A Shearman spokesperson said the firm wishes Chatterji well in his new role and cited two leveraged finance partners the firm hired in recent months in London and New York, Shameer Shah and Thomas Mastoras, "demonstrating our ongoing commitment to invest in the growth of our team and reinforcing our strong global platform."
Shearman is also one of several U.S. firms to lay off lawyers or staff in the past few months, cutting 12 associates and 26 business services professionals in the United States amid macroeconomic headwinds.
Linklaters has also lost two parters in London in the last week to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Latham & Watkins.
The firm also lost the global co-heads of its infrastructure practice in London to Paul Hastings earlier this year.
