King & Spalding has added five partners to its corporate, finance and investments (CFI) practice across its Paris, Frankfurt and London offices from rivals including Reed Smith, Bredin Pratt and Paul Hastings.

Two partners are joining the top 30 global firm in Paris, a partner and his four-strong team have been brought on board in Frankfurt, while in London a duo have arrived from Paul Hastings. 

The Paris newcomers — Fernand Arsanios and Alice Money Decroix — are moving across from Reed Smith and Bredin Prat respectively. Arsanios specialises in acquisition and project financing transactions, while Decroix focuses on French and European employment law matters.

Todd Holleman, head of King & Spalding’s CFI practice characterised the duo's arrival as an “important component” of the firm's expansion efforts in Europe. 

The incoming Frankfurt team, meanwhile, is led by Peter Memminger, who joins as a partner alongside a team that includes a senior counsel, two counsel and an associate. Memminger's practice focuses on M&A, corporate and litigation work for private equity funds, family offices and large companies. He also advises on restructuring, insolvency and ESG matters and various German corporate disputes.

Memminger set up his own practice in 2017, which became known as BMP in 2019. He previously spent 12 years at Milbank, where he was a partner. Prior to that he spent two years as a corporate associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Axel Schilder, King & Spalding’s Frankfurt office managing partner, said: “Peter is one of the brightest stars in the Frankfurt corporate legal market, with invaluable background in major international legal peers as well as first-hand knowledge of what it requires to build a firm from scratch in an intensely competitive market.”

Earlier this week, King & Spalding brought on board two finance partners – Richard Kitchen and Amin Doulai – in London from Paul Hastings. The duo also joined the CFI group, bringing with them significant experience in the private equity and private credit markets. Completing the run of hires this week is real estate counsel Oliver Swerdlow, who has moved across from Mishcon de Reya.

Holleman said: “Clients are increasingly becoming more cross-border in their operations, requiring both holistic transactional advice as well as stand-alone corporate advice and our strategy is to significantly expand our European CFI team across key jurisdictions and practices. Our recent hires go right to the heart of that strategy, covering sectors such as M&A, private equity, banking and finance, employment and real estate."

It hasn't all been one-way traffic for King & Spalding's European network with McDermott Will & Emery toady announcing the hire of disputes partner Amy Frey in Paris.

The London departures from Paul Hastings, meanwhile, come a month after it announced the hire of a four-partner fianance team from Latham & Watkins including Latham's former global banking co-chair and the former co-chairs of its London finance department.