Ropes opens PE-focused Milan office with three-lawyer Latham raid

Ropes & Gray has opened a Milan office focused on private equity, hiring a three-lawyer team from Latham & Watkins, including experienced dealmaker Cataldo Piccarreta.

Piccarreta joins alongside Giorgia Lugli and Luca Maranetto. Piccarreta will co-head Ropes’ European private equity transactions practice, while Maranetto will be promoted to partner as part of the move.

Milan momentum

The launch gives Ropes its fourth European base after London, Dublin and Paris - an office it opened in March with a PE-focused trio from Clifford Chance. It comes just months after the firm lost three private equity lawyers in London to White & Case, led by star dealmaker Helen Croke.

Milan has become one of Europe’s fastest-growing hubs for private capital, buoyed by investor-friendly tax rules and a surge in PE deal volume that more than doubled last year. International firms have been boosting their presence in the financial centre.

Hogan Lovells raided White & Case for a five-partner corporate and finance team at the start of the year, part of a wider Italy expansion across Rome and Milan that has added more than 50 lawyers in the past 18 months. Fieldfisher entered Milan last spring with a 26-lawyer launch, while Bird & Bird boosted its finance bench with a seven-lawyer hire from Hogan Lovells last summer.

What they said

Firm chair Julie Jones said: "The addition of best-in-class talent like Aldo, Giorgia and Luca will help us to move faster and more seamlessly across many of the geographies where our private equity clients are pursuing their most compelling opportunities."

Piccarreta added: "Italy offers tremendous opportunities as a dynamic and rapidly expanding market for private equity, M&A, and direct investment. We are energized to partner with clients who are already leading in the Italian market, as well as those who aspire to do business in the region."