United Kingdom: Spotlight on AltNets

Hannah is private equity partner in Baker McKenzie's London office. Before Hannah joined Baker McKenzie in 2023 she was in the private equity team at Fried Frank for almost a decade, during which time she was seconded for seven months to Goldman Sachs AM Private as a senior lawyer advising deal teams across the Corporate Equity, Infrastructure, Growth Equity and Hybrid Capital sleeves. Hannah has been recognised by the Legal 500 UK for Private Equity Transactions - High Value Deals, where she is described as "smart, organised, responsive, and easy to work with through tough issues."

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Nick Rainsford is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Private Equity and Funds group, based in London. Nick is recognised in both Chambers and Legal 500.

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Priyanka Usmani is a Partner in Baker McKenzie’s Banking and Finance Department based in London. Priyanka predominantly acts on restructuring and insolvency matters, often with multijurisdictional aspects, representing a range of clients both on the debtor side (acting for companies and financial sponsors), the creditor side (acting for institutional lenders and funds) and insolvency officeholders. Priyanka is accustomed to acting for the full spectrum of stakeholders in any restructuring and insolvency situations, including investors and directors of distressed (or potentially distressed) companies.

Since joining Baker McKenzie, Priyanka has spent six months on secondment with the workout team at Barclays.

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Steve Holmes co-leads Baker McKenzie’s global and EMEA IP, technology and data teams. Steve is rated by the UK legal directories as a leading lawyer in the outsourcing, telecoms and technology categories, which state:

"Steve Holmes has a proven way of cutting through the noise and is collaborative in getting deals done". (Chambers UK, 2024, Information Technology and Outsourcing)

"He is very commercial and experienced . . . He is definitely someone you want on your side in a tough negotiation." (Chambers UK, 2020, Telecoms).

“Steve is a superstar. He builds rapport like no one I've ever seen and gets deals done efficiently and with finesse." "He's one of the top lawyers in the outsourcing market" (Chambers UK, 2020, Outsourcing).

"Very strong." "Excellent academically and commercially." (Chambers UK, 2020, Information Technology).

“Steve Holmes brings a combination of expert and commercially relevant analysis that is very much appreciated.” (Legal 500, 2020, IT and Telecoms).

Clients commend his "wealth of experience in the IT world and for his understanding of where the market is and where the technology is developing," and comment that “his customer service is great and he challenges us to think creatively." (Chambers UK, 2019, Information Technology).

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Ash is a partner in the Corporate M&A team in Baker McKenzie's London office. She joined the Firm in 2022, having spent over a decade at a Magic Circle firm. She advises on a wide range of corporate transactions including domestic and cross-border private M&A, joint ventures, restructurings, reorganisations, listed company advice and corporate governance.

Ash was recognised in the 2022 and 2024 Legal 500 rankings (M&A Upper Mid-Market and Premium Deals, over GBP 500 million) which reported that "Ash is among the best lawyers I have ever worked with anywhere – truly world class. Sharp, commercial, attentive, super committed and, on a personal level, an absolute joy to deal with. Trusted advisor for sure”, “Ash Tiwari is a phenomenal lawyer. We recommend Ash to everyone looking for a sophisticated global corporate lawyer” and "Ash Tiwari is an excellent lawyer. She is proactive, clear, straightforward and pragmatic in her advice."

In addition to client work, Ash is co-chair of the Firm's London race and ethnicity committee, BakerEthnicity. She is also a central member of the Firm's Global India Practice Group.

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