Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance strengthens its Private Equity practice with the appointment of Claudio Cerabolini

International law firm Clifford Chance announced today that Claudio Cerabolini has been appointed  partner in its Corporate practice in Italy. Cerabolini is joining the firm from Bonelli Erede Pappalardo and will take up his position on 1 May 2011, focusing on Private Equity and Venture Capital.

Paolo Sersale, head of the Corporate  practice in Italy, said:  "Claudio has been appointed with the strategic objective of strengthening our expertise in private equity in Italy, an area in which we are proud to be the leading firm in Europe. With the appointment of Cerabolini the Italy Corporate Practice now boasts 35 lawyers, nine of whom are partners (five of whom specialise in M&A transactions). Clifford Chance is the leading law firm in Europe in Private Equity, recently advising Permira-Birds Eye on its purchase of Findus and the management on the leveraged buyout of Teamsystem".

Claudio Cerabolini, 36, has worked at the Milan office of Bonelli Erede Pappalardo since 2007, focusing largely on Private Equity, Venture Capital and M&A. In the last few years Claudio has advised on a number of high profile transactions including the investement by Apax Partners, TA Associates and Madison Dearborn Partners in Wind Telecom (ex Weather Investments), the acquisition of Ceme by Investcorp and the recent investment by Charme II in Octo Telematics. Previously he worked at law firms Camozzi & Bonissoni (2004-2006) and Pavia and Ansaldo (1999-2004).

He has also been involved in the Tax & Legal Commission of AIFI (Italian Association of Private Equity  and Venture Capital) and was recently one of the authors of a paper published by AIFI on the structuring of acquisitions in Italy following changes to the regulations on financial assistance.

This appointment is the latest in a number of strategic hires by Clifford Chance's global corporate practice including Steven Fox and Tim Lewis in London, Rob Masella in New York and Mathieu Remy in Paris.

Clifford Chance's Corporate practice is ranked number one in Corporate/M&A globally in Chambers Global 2011 and is at the top of Mergermarket's European M&A rankings for Q1 2011.