Latham & Watkins LLP is pleased to announce that Tom Alabaster has joined the firm’s London office as a partner in the Corporate Department. Alabaster joins Latham & Watkins from the New York office of The Carlyle Group, where he was senior Counsel. He has significant experience in fund formation, acquisitions, financings, restructurings, dispositions and deal structuring across jurisdictions. He also has significant expertise in EMEA regulatory and compliance affairs, including working with EU and national regulators.

Nick Cline, Latham & Watkins’ London Office Managing Partner, said: “Tom’s unique experience with one of the world’s leading private equity firms will play an important part in the development of our fund formation team in London, as well as our broader private equity practice, where we now have top transactional, funds, bank and bond lawyers.”

“A strong funds platform complements our existing PE practice in London, a key strategic market for the global private equity practice,” added Dan Lennon, Global Chair of Latham & Watkins’ Corporate Department.

Alabaster is the fifth private equity hire announced by Latham’s London office since May last year, following the appointments of David Walker, Tom Evans and Kem Ihenacho from Clifford Chance and Nick Benson from Weil Gotshal & Manges. The office now has 250 fee earners including over 60 partners.

Latham’s top-ranked private equity practice represents some of the world’s leading private equity houses, including The Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman, EQT, Advent International, BC Partners, KKR, Charterhouse, Nordic Capital and PAI Partners, among others. Recent deals include advising Hellman & Friedman on the EUR2bn acquisition of a 70% stake in Scout24; The Carlyle Group’s acquisitions of Addison Lee and Chesapeake Packaging; and BC Partners’ acquisition of Allflex Holdings.

Alabaster is a member of the Regulatory, Legal and Technical Committees of the European Venture Capital Association and the British Venture Capital Association, as well as of the tax and legal committees of the EU section of the American Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining Carlyle, Alabaster was a senior associate in the private equity and fund formation practice group at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York and an associate with Slaughter and May in both London and Hong Kong.