Goodwin Procter expands private equity group

Goodwin Procter has hired Fredrich Lim as a partner in the private equity group of its San Francisco office.

Lim will join a team of more than a dozen partners in the law firm’s northern California office. He was previously a partner at Kirkland & Ellis where he advised on debt finance matters.

“Fred’s broad transactional experience, especially in the sponsor leveraged finance space, will serve as a significant resource for the firm and our private equity clients,” said Andrew Weidhaas, co-chairman of the private equity group at Goodwin Procter.

Lim is Goodwin Procter’s fifth partner-level hire for its global private equity practice, coming months after the law firm established a London private equity office. The firm appointed Simon Fulbrook as a partner in July and Richard Lever as partner in April. Both had worked for UK legal adviser King & Wood Mallesons before joining Goodwin Procter.

Goodwin Procter partner Hovey Kemp said Lim’s skills and relationships fit well with the firm’s growing private equity practice in California. He has experience with both domestic and cross-border private equity transactions, including leveraged buyouts, take-private acquisitions, debt financing, recapitalisations and restructurings.

Meanwhile, Weidhaas has moved to the firm’s Los Angeles office to build its presence in the southern California mid-market deal advisory space, which mirrors the focus of its London group.

Goodwin Procter has advised on a number of mid-market deals this year, including Thoma Bravo’s acquisition of iPipeline, TA Associates’ investment in Procare Software and JMI Equity’s investment in Intelex Technologies. On the larger transaction side, the firm served as counsel to Partners Group in its $1.1 billion acquisition of Dynacast in January.