Weil Gotshal & Manges has hired a pair of private equity dealmakers from Latham & Watkins to open offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

Tana Ryan is joining the firm as managing partner of its new Los Angeles office, while Navneeta Rekhi joins as a partner in Weil’s new San Francisco office. 

“Tana and Nav are ideal partners to help build our new California offices as we embark on this next phase of expansion,” said Michael Aiello, chairman of Weil’s global corporate department. “Los Angeles and San Francisco are significant markets for the private equity community, and this is a rare opportunity to expand our private equity group, as well as to grow other practice areas across the firm’s global platform.”

At Latham Ryan and Rekhi co-led the team that last year counselled private equity firm HIG Capital on its acquisition of supply-chain company Ascent Global Logistics. The duo were both partners at Kirkland & Ellis before joining Latham in summer 2021 and late 2020 respectively.

Ryan’s clients have included Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, Oaktree Capital and Parthenon Capital alongside HIG, while Rekhi regularly advises Gryphon Investors and Arcline Investment Management; earlier this year she co-led the Latham team that acted for Arcline in its $1.29bn take-private acquisition of aerospace parts-maker Kaman Corp.

Weil said the buildout of the new offices would be a collaborative effort involving the current partners in the Silicon Valley office the firm opened in 1991, as well as the addition of further laterals in several practice areas. 

Ryan and Rekhi will collaborate with a presence in both Los Angeles and San Francisco to anchor Weil’s expansion on the West Coast, the firm said. 

“The arrivals of Tana and Nav – and our office openings in Los Angeles and San Francisco – are significant developments for the firm, but this is just the first step,” said Kyle Krpata, co-head of Weil’s US private equity group, and based in the Silicon Valley office. “We have relationships with sponsors in both markets and are looking forward to working with Tana and Nav to add additional partners to our team and leverage our collective network to attract new sponsor clients.”

Outside of the US, 1,200-lawyer Weil has offices in the UK, Belgium, France, Germany and China. Earlier this year the firm said it was considering closing its base in Shanghai, having shuttered its Beijing office last year. The firm’s Shanghai office is no longer listed on its website.