International law firm Simmons & Simmons has added to its growing private equity team by hiring partner Richard Kyle.

Richard joins the firm’s UK Corporate practice after over two decades at another international law firm, bringing an established practice focusing on private equity, international mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and special situations transactions.

With a strong track record serving clients in the UK, Ireland, across Europe and the US, in addition to providing advice to institutional investors, he has experience advising multinational corporations operating in the diversified industrial, financial services and TMT sectors.

Richard joins Simmons at a time of a significant expansion of its private equity offering, UK Corporate practice, and expertise across the asset management and investment funds (AMIF) sector.

The addition of Richard Kyle follows the hire of fellow private equity partner Tim Hewens in May, private equity real estate partner Oliver s’Jacob in February, and private equity specialist Linda Zeman as Of Counsel at the end of 2023.

The firm also complemented its private equity expansion with the hire of acquisition finance partner Laurie Keel in its UK Banking group in May 2024.

Simmons’ growth of its private equity team follows the further expansion of its offer across the wider AMIF sector – where the firm works with 85 per cent of the largest 50 global asset managers, most major hedge funds in Europe and the US, an array of private fund managers and some of the world’s largest institutional investors.

The firm recently promoted funds specialists Marcela Moraru (Paris) and John Dooley (London) to partner in June, and hired Jeffrey Friedenberg as its Head of Private Funds in Hong Kong in February.

Commenting on the latest PE hire, Arthur Stewart, partner and head of the firm’s UK Corporate practice, said: “Richard is an excellent addition to our expanding private equity team. His expertise will provide an immediate boost to our offer both in the UK and across Europe, where there is growing demand from clients for support on complex cross-border private equity deals.”

On joining Simmons, Richard Kyle said: “I’m very pleased to have joined Simmons and its leading UK Corporate practice and cross border private equity group. It’s an excellent time to join, with the firm prioritising the expansion of its mid-market private equity offering. With strong EU transactional and financing capabilities, a wide international network and a sector focus aligned with that of my clients, Simmons is a fantastic fit for my practice.”

Robert Turner, partner and AMIF sector head at Simmons, commented: “Richard joins an influx of serious talent focused on transactional strength for investor clients. Our transactional and financing reach are now every bit as important as our fund formation and regulatory heritage. It’s great to see the transactional and finance talent our network and client base is attracting.”

This news story was originally published on the firm’s website.