Weekly round-up: Warsoaring

Reporting live from the ninth annual unquote" CEE PE Congress in Warsaw, Kimberly Romaine suggested private equity firms in central and eastern Europe have reason to feel optimistic. Though deal volume may have remained somewhat static, more than €1bn was raised for investment in the region last year. Piotr Kuszewski, managing director at Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, said at the congress: "GPs pick up the best companies in the market and grow them; this adds to economic growth and so we want to support that. This is why we invest in private equity now." And with further major fund announcements expected from Mid Europa Partners and 3TS, the future's bright.

A number of high-profile moves from magic circle law firms to US outfits are changing the legal landscape of private equity. unquote" analysed the drivers behind the shake-up, attributed to the personal nature of private equity. "Big corporates tend to have much deeper and institutionalised relationships with their law firms, making it a much slower and more difficult process to change firms, whereas private equity clients are slightly easier to move because the relationships are more personal," said Justin Stock, partner at US firm Morrison & Foerster. And with the significant weight of US investors in LP bases across the world, it comes as no surprise that key fund formation lawyers are drawn to US law firms. What can the magic circle do to stem the tide of departing talent?

That's all from me this week but if you have any comments on this week's analysis, please send your thoughts to amy.king@incisivemedia.com.

You can continue to follow me and the rest of the unquote" team via @unquotenews for all the latest private equity and venture capital updates, and of course on unquote.com.

Amy King
Senior Reporter, unquote"

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