City Of London
The Powerful City Lawyer at The Center of a Private Equity Storm
- Era of cheap money gave PE firms upper hand in loan talks
- Some lenders critical of designated counsel legal process
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Neel Sachdev has a reputation for going above and beyond to ensure his private equity clients get what they want. The power the London lawyer wields over Europe’s $2 trillion buyout market is testament to that, and a reflection of the dominant debt finance practice he has built at US law firm Kirkland & Ellis over the past decade.
Now, however, tactics he has used to his clients’ advantage — such as influencing which law firms he comes up against in deal negotiations and even playing a role in the recruitment of lawyers into rival law firms — are facing scrutiny by market participants as the era of easy money ends.