King & Wood Mallesons has announced the appointments of Eversheds partners William Naunton, Clive Jones and former Eversheds partner Cornelius Medvei to the firm’s leading structured real estate team.
William Naunton, Eversheds’ former international head of Real Estate, and Clive Jones, former London head of Tax planned to establish a boutique firm on leaving Eversheds, offering both high-end structuring and mainstream real estate services to clients. Cornelius Medvei, before he retired from the firm, held a number of senior roles at Eversheds, including London senior partner and head of Real Estate.
All three join King & Wood Mallesons in January to support the firm's strategy focussing on structured, high-end real estate. Whilst William and Cornelius will be situated in Real Estate and Clive in Tax, the work they do will be cross-departmental and international due to the synergies of their experience with a number of our practice groups and offices.
Cornelius Medvei commented: “Increasingly, the market's (including that of our clients) focus is on international real estate opportunities, with a clear trend towards Asian, Australasian and Middle Eastern investors seeking opportunities in Europe and across the globe. The strength of King & Wood Mallesons in those markets, the breadth of their footprint and their corporate strength perfectly complements and enhances our offer. The opportunity to move more swiftly and strongly into that market than we could have done on our own, coupled with the alignment we feel exists between King & Wood Mallesons' aspirations and culture and our own, made the opportunity an irresistible one for us.”
This news follows the recent announcement that William Boss has been appointed as King & Wood Mallesons’ next managing partner for EMEA. William has stepped down from his current role as co-head of London Real Estate. Fellow co-head Simon Ricketts will also step down after several years at the helm to focus full time on his role as head of Planning & Environment.
The group has unanimously elected head of Property Litigation Jason Juden and property partner Ed Page co-heads of UK Real Estate. Their appointments take immediate effect. Bryan Pickup continues in his role as co-ordinator of the global Real Estate group.
William Boss said: “That William, Clive and Cornelius have chosen to join us instead of pursuing their standalone offering is hugely exciting and a testament to our strategic direction both in the Real Estate group and more generally as a firm. The combined experience of these market-leading individuals will add a great deal to our client offering, helping to maintain our position as a leader in real estate and further enhancing our brand as a leading firm in structured real estate.”
He added: “Ed and Jason are stepping up to lead the group at a very interesting time with the group instructed on many new high profile panels and matters, along with these important hires. They have great leadership qualities and I am confident they will continue to help the group develop and grow.”
About William, Clive and Cornelius:
William Naunton headed the international Real Estate group at Eversheds as well as co-heading the London group and has been at the firm for 24 years. His principal areas of focus are structured real estate and institutional investment and he has specialist expertise in a uniquely broad range of complex real estate investment and development matters, advising both domestic and international clients.
Clive Jones joined Eversheds six years ago from Clifford Chance. He specialises in direct and indirect tax and has particular expertise relating to real estate and finance transactions. In his role as head of Tax he spent much of his time advising on structured real estate transactions and investment structures.
Cornelius Medvei held a variety of senior positions at Eversheds during his 26 years at the firm, including, London managing partner, London senior partner, board member, head of the Real Estate group and also head of their Transport group.
