(Moscow, Russia) – LAWFUEL – Law Firm Newswire – Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP announced today that partner Burke McDavid has returned to the firm’s Moscow office to head the firm’s market-leading Russian investment funds practice. He was most recently based in the firm’s Dallas office.
Mr. McDavid has nearly a decade of experience advising international clients in relation to the formation and operation of international private investment funds, including both hedge funds and private equity funds.
Richard Wilkie, partner-in-charge in Akin Gump’s Moscow office, commented, “Akin Gump is proud of its preeminent Russian investment funds practice, and Burke’s return to Moscow is a consequence of the importance we place on this industry sector. His expertise in structuring and servicing hedge funds and private equity funds will be invaluable to foreign players entering the Russian-focused funds market and Russian businesses and investment houses seeking fresh alternative investment opportunities. We are confident his arrival will cement our position as market leaders in this area.”
Fluent in Russian, Mr. McDavid has spent three extended periods of time in Russia, most recently from 2000 to 2002 with Akin Gump in Moscow. From 1992 to 1995 he worked in Moscow for oil-field-related businesses, and from 1990 to 1992 he spent three semesters studying in the Russian cities of Tver, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Mr. McDavid received his B.A. in Russian area studies and his J.D. cum laude from Southern Methodist University.
Mr. McDavid commented, “I am very pleased to return to the city in which I started my career and bring my investment funds expertise to an exciting market. I look forward to adding to our first-rate team in Moscow and to working with our extensive client roster of Russian investment managers.”
With more than 70 lawyers worldwide, Akin Gump’s investment funds practice has advised alternative investment funds for more than 30 years, helping many of the world’s largest and most prominent hedge funds and private equity funds raise, invest and realize billions of dollars. Akin Gump is ranked among the top firms in the world in the area of private equity and hedge fund formation (see Alpha magazine; Chambers USA; Chambers Global; Legal 500; Hedge Fund Journal).
Akin Gump currently acts for numerous Russian investment banks and investment managers on all aspects of alternative investment funds, including hedge, private equity and real estate. The firm also acts for many Western investment managers looking to access the CIS markets.
Akin Gump opened its office in Moscow in 1994. As the only law firm with a former U.S. ambassador to Russia in residence – Robert S. Strauss, the last U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and the first U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation – Akin Gump is ideally positioned to address client needs in both Russia and the CIS. The Moscow office is home to a team of highly experienced Russian, U.S. and English-qualified lawyers who have been active in major transactions and litigation proceedings throughout the region for more than 15 years, advising on investment funds; international and Russian capital markets transactions; mergers and acquisitions; joint ventures; bank, vendor and other financings; real estate development and transactions; international arbitration and litigation in Russia or involving Russian companies; large-scale project development; corporate governance; and complex public law and policy matters in Russia and the United States.
Akin Gump Moscow’s recent representations include:
• VimpelCom in its acquisition of Golden Telecom for $4.2 billion, the largest acquisition by a U.S. publicly listed Russian company of a U.S. public company
• LUKOIL on its proposed acquisition of a €1.35 billion stake in a joint venture with ERG S.p.A in the ISAB refinery complex in Priolo, Sicily
• Troika Capital Partners in connection with its sale of a 25% stake in OAO AvtoVAZ, the leading Russian auto manufacturer, to Renault S.A, for US$1.0 billion
• Da Vinci CIS Private Sector Growth Fund in the formation and listing of the first investment fund on the London Specialist Fund Market.
Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a leading international law firm, numbers more than 1,000 lawyers and advisors in the United States, Europe and Asia.
