Expanding on Milbank LLP’s finance and corporate capabilities in Germany and beyond, the firm is pleased to announce the arrival of highly renowned attorneys Barbara Mayer-Trautmann and Markus Muhs to the firm’s Global Banking and Leveraged Finance Group and Global Corporate Group, respectively. Ms. Mayer-Trautmann and Mr. Muhs join the firm as partners and will be resident in the Munich office.
Widely regarded as a market-leading attorney in the leveraged finance market, Ms. Mayer-Trautmann focuses her practice on large and mid-cap leveraged finance, infrastructure finance, corporate investment grade and sub-investment grade lending, as well as financial restructuring. She is also admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales and is consistently involved in English law financings.
Mr. Muhs’ practice focuses on private equity with particular experience in energy and infrastructure transactions both in Germany and across Europe. He also has extensive experience advising on M&A transactions and joint ventures in the telecommunications and technology sectors.
The clients advised by Ms. Mayer-Trautmann and Mr. Muhs range from leading private equity firms such as EQT and KKR, to prominent corporations such as Siemens. Ms. Mayer-Trautmann also advises leading financial institutions such as J.P. Morgan and Citi, as well as direct lenders such as HayFin and Barings. Additionally, Mr. Muhs has worked for clients Partners Group as well as global asset managers and German pension funds.
“Together, Barbara and Markus have broad experience in German domestic and cross-border corporate transactions, financing and restructuring,” says Milbank Chairman Scott A. Edelman. “There are a lot of synergies—whether in leveraged finance, energy and infrastructure or private equity—and their addition to the firm will be of tremendous value to our clients.”
“The arrival of Markus presents a unique opportunity to expand our German private equity practice into infrastructure, one of our key practice areas globally, which will create enormous synergies between our offices and practice groups,” comments Global Head of Milbank’s Corporate Group Norbert Rieger. “He offers critical insight not just for German clients, but for those across the continent and beyond.”
“Barbara's addition to our team is fantastic. Her overwhelming drive in deal situations and level of client service is outstanding, and she brings a wealth of experience in the full spectrum of German and international financing transactions. The fit is simply perfect,” comments Thomas Ingenhoven, Head of Banking and Leveraged Finance in Germany.
The arrival of Ms. Mayer-Trautmann and Mr. Muhs also builds upon the firm’s hires of highly-regarded M&A and private equity attorneys around the world, including Neil Whoriskey in New York, Andrej Wolf and Lisa O’Neill in London, and Neeraj Budwani and Andrew Whan in Hong Kong, underscoring the firm’s prowess with complex and cross-border transactions across Europe, Asia and the United States.
First launched in 2004, Milbank’s German law practice has a reputation for prominent offerings in private equity, M&A, general corporate, acquisition and general finance, tax and antitrust matters. In recent months, it has advised on a number of high-profile transactions for notable clients such as leading biopharmaceutical supplier Sartorius Group, digital automotive platform AUTO1 Group and the Otto Group as well as private equity firms, including The Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group Inc. and CPPIB on multi-billion-euro transactions.
Ms. Mayer-Trautmann and Mr. Muhs come to Milbank from Clifford Chance’s Munich office, where they served as partners in finance and private equity/M&A respectively. They will join Milbank together with a team of nine experienced associates. Among other accolades, Ms. Mayer-Trautmann was recently listed as one of the 100 most influential women in Germany in Handelsblatt and is ranked Band 1 by Chambers’ Global Guide in Banking & Finance – Germany. Mr. Muhs is recognized as a leading adviser for private equity by German JUVE guide and as highly regarded for M&A in International Financial Law Review’s IFLR1000 guide.
