International law firm Simmons & Simmons has announced that it has secured the hire of a prominent four-partner corporate real estate team into its Frankfurt office.
Marc Bohne, Dr. Moritz Vettermann (both transactions), Felix Krüger (tax and structuring) and Jochen Schnepper (finance) will be joining Simmons’ Frankfurt office as partners from a US-headquartered global law firm. The four partners will be supported by a team of associates.
The incoming team is well known in the market for its fully integrated and multidisciplinary offering in corporate and private equity based real estate transactions. In past years they worked for many of the industry’s most renowned clients and will significantly strengthen the firm’s German and pan European practices.
The Frankfurt hire is a key piece of Simmons’ pan European strategy and follows the firm’s recent expansion of its Paris real estate team in July, with partners Michaël Lévy and Laure Nguyen joining. Simmons’ Milan real estate team also recently expanded with the hire of partner Emanuela Molinaro, while over the last year, the firm has bolstered its private equity real estate offering in London through the hire of partners Oliver s’Jacob and Danielle Hirsch, and its construction practice through partners Marianne Toghill and Trevor Cosgrove.
Simmons now boasts a highly experienced international real estate practice, comprising 75 lawyers. The hire also marks a significant expansion of the firm’s Frankfurt office. Simmons has been based in the heart of Germany’s financial centre for 22 years and recently relocated into a new office at the FOUR in Frankfurt.
Commenting on the hires, Ali Crosthwaite, head of UK real estate and co-head of the firm’s Real Estate Cross-Border Group, said: “As we see other firms retrenching from real estate in certain markets, we see an unrivalled opportunity to attract high calibre partners to our excellent cross border real estate network as we seek to provide a “one-stop shop” to our institutional and PERE clients for complex, cross-border mandates. The quality of this team is simply second to none and we very much look forward to welcoming them to our platform.”
Thomas Scharfenberg, Germany Country Head, commented: “This hire is an exciting and strategically very important development for Germany and our Frankfurt office in particular, broadening the strong foundation of expertise that we offer as a firm, both domestically and internationally. Our offering in Germany, which includes first class transactional and project development real estate expertise in our Frankfurt and Munich offices, is integral to the firm and these hires reflect the top quality and long-term growth ambitions that Simmons has for the market.”
Marc Bohne commented: “We are thrilled to join the team at Simmons; a move driven by our commitment to becoming the leading corporate real estate practice in the market. We share Simmons’ focus on being our clients’ trusted advisors, serving them on their most important transactions throughout the year. This move further strengthens our collective ability to do just that.”
The four new Frankfurt partners
Marc Bohne: Marc specialises on cross border corporate real estate transactions, including sales and acquisitions, joint ventures and restructuring. He advises a diverse range of international and domestic clients on complex property matters.
Felix Krüger: Felix provides specialist advice on the tax aspects of private equity and real estate transactions, with extensive experience in managing tax issues across all aspects of real estate investments.
Dr. Moritz S. Vettermann: Moritz focuses on real estate transactions, private equity investments, portfolio structuring and joint ventures, bringing expertise in handling sophisticated real estate deals for a variety of clients.
Jochen Schnepper: Jochen is an expert in real estate finance, advising on senior/mezzanine structures, cross-border financings, and financial restructurings. He works with private equity firms, debt funds, and institutional investors on diverse financing products and distressed debt situations
This news story was originally published on the firm’s website.