Frankfurt/München—Global law firm Dentons will strengthen its Banking and Finance practice in Germany with the recruitment of a top tier structured finance and securitization team.

On April 1, 2017, Dr. Arne Klüwer will join the Frankfurt office from Clifford Chance and Dr. Matthias Eggert will join the Munich office along with Timo Riester from Baker McKenzie. In addition, as of 1 May, Mortimer Berlet will join as a partner from Clifford Chance where he presently works as a senior associate.

The additions to the team will support Dentons’ strategy to develop the Banking and Finance practice in Germany and boost the Firm’s capabilities in cross-border transactions. Through these hires Dentons will gain one of the strongest structured finance and securitization offerings in the German market and more widely in Europe.

Arne Klüwer will assume the role of Head of Banking and Finance Germany as well as Head of Structured Finance Europe. His securitization and structured finance practice covers a broad range of asset classes and supply chain finance products.  He also advises on restructuring, workouts and loan trading transactions. Recently he structured the first whole business securitization of a photovoltaic leasing company, which was the first transaction of its kind to be eligible for a ”Climate Bond“ certification. He has significant experience in the real estate, energy and insurance sectors. He began his career as a lawyer with Clifford Chance in 2000 and became a partner in 2004.

He is looking forward to leading Dentons’ newly established Structured Finance and Securitization practice in competing with the established market leaders both in Germany and internationally.

Matthias Eggert focuses on structured finance and advises on securitization, corporate lending and restructuring as well as on portfolio transactions, including their financing. His clients include banks, borrowers and FinTech companies. Eggert has advised clients such as CRX Markets Vattenfall, Lufthansa and Nestlé on their supply chain finance platforms. Before he joined Baker McKenzie in 2008, he worked for Hengeler Mueller in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and London.

Mortimer Berlet focuses on structured finance and securitization and brings substantial experience in the securitization of a broad range of asset classes and structured finance transactions, including loan trading transactions and restructurings. He joined Clifford Chance as a lawyer in 2011 and prior to that worked in-house in the restructuring group of a large international financial institution.

Andreas Ziegenhagen, German Managing Partner, commented, “These high profile legal advisors will help raise our Banking and Finance practice to a whole new level and substantially strengthen our offering for our clients.“

Robert Michels, Office Managing Partner Frankfurt and Co-Head of Europe Capital Markets practice, added, “Through these new hires our practice gains substantial strength. This is a very good opportunity to further enhance our position in the German financial market.”

Dr. Matthias Eggert said, “Dentons is now well positioned to advise on structured products in Europe and globally. The Munich office has a very strong dynamic and Timo and I very much look forward to strengthening the Banking and Finance practice to offer my clients the services of a global and dynamic law firm.“

In addition, Dr. Carl Bjärnram recently joined the Banking and Finance team in Munich in Aviation and Asset Finance from Norton Rose Fulbright. His hire complements the Firm’s existing Aviation capabilities and offering in London, Paris and Madrid.

Dr. Alexander von Bergwelt, Office Managing Partner Munich, said, “When we opened the Munich office last year, one of our priorities was to establish a strong Banking and Finance team to serve our clients in Munich.  With the recruitment of Matthias, Timo and Carl, we have taken a big step forward in our strategy.”

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