US firm Milbank has hired two corporate and capital markets lawyers in New York as it continues to expand its global private equity offering.

Corporate lawyer Richard Presutti and capital markets lawyer Antonio Diaz-Albertini join as partners from Schulte Roth & Zabel. Presutti’s practice focuses on private equity, M&A, leveraged buyouts and alternative asset management deals, while Diaz-Albertini’s practice focuses on advising sponsors and corporations on a wide range of capital markets transactions.

Scott Edelman, Milbank’s chairman, said: “[Presutti and Diaz-Albertini’s] deep transactional knowledge and experience advising some of the world’s leading private equity firms will be invaluable as we continue to expand our capabilities to better serve private equity sponsors globally.”

Presutti – who was crowned ‘North American Lawyer of the Year’ in 2013 by the Global M&A Network – was co-chair of Schulte’s M&A and securities group, as well as a member of its executive committee. Diaz-Albertini, meantime, joined Schulte in 2015 from Cahill Gordon & Reindel, where he spent eight years as an associate. He initially arrived at Schulte as special counsel before being promoted to partner in 2017.

Norbert Rieger, global head of Milbank’s corporate group, said: “We have significantly expanded our corporate and private equity practices globally over the last year with major additions in New York, London, Germany and Hong Kong. The additions of Rick and Antonio is an instrumental step in our continued strategic expansion. They have led some of the most significant private equity transactions in the market over the last year.”

The firm has made eight partner additions worldwide over the past six months, including corporate partner Neil Whoriskey in New York, who joined from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and fellow corporate partner Andrej Wolf, who arrived from Kirkland & Ellis in London.

Last October, Barbara Mayer-Trautmann and Markus Muhs joined in Germany from Clifford Chance, while in January the firm hired a quartet of lawyers in Hong Kong from Clifford Chance and Linklaters. Milbank’s New York-based corporate lawyers Iliana Ongun and Aaron Stine were also promoted to partners in January.

Presutti said: “Milbank’s strategic focus and its wide range of high-quality practices will allow us to provide best-in-class service to our clients.”

The firm is ranked by Chambers and Partners in New York as having a highly regarded corporate and M&A team which is “adept at mid-market deals, often working with private equity firms and energy companies as part of a broad client base”.

In December, UK Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy boosted its New York private equity team with the hire of Nick Marchica from Baker McKenzie, where he chaired the New York transactional practice group.