Linklaters bolsters growth with hire of industry heavyweights in Private Equity/M&A and Financial Regulation practices

Linklaters today announced the hire of alumni Betty Yap and Carl Fernandes who will re-join the firm as partners in their corporate and financial regulation practices respectively.

Betty has an established reputation as one of the leading senior lawyers in the China private equity market and has extensive experience in cross-border M&A, strategic investments, joint ventures, special situations transactions and foreign direct investments involving China. She re-joins Linklaters from Paul, Weiss where she was Managing Partner of their China Practice. She previously worked as a Linklaters partner in Hong Kong SAR from 2004 to 2016, serving as the firm’s Head of China from 2011 to 2016. Upon re-joining, she will take on the role of Global Co-Head of the Financial Sponsor Group. She will be based in Hong Kong.

Carl has close to 25 years’ experience in London, Hong Kong and Australia, advising a wide range of financial services clients, including multi-disciplinary investment banks, broker-dealers, custodians, asset managers, private banks and financial market infrastructures, on complex regulatory issues. He re-joins Linklaters from Latham & Watkins where he was a partner in their Financial Regulatory Group, based in London. He previously worked at Linklaters in both Hong Kong and London from 2001 to 2018 and is the former Head of the firm’s Asia Financial Regulation practice. He will be relocating to Asia but will remain in London for a period of time.

Linklaters’ Global Head of Financial Regulation Peter Bevan, commented:

“Carl’s deep knowledge of the various regulatory landscapes and his long-standing relationships with key clients of the firm, across Europe and Asia, will be invaluable in further expanding our service offering and coverage to clients across our already leading platform.”

Linklaters’ Global Co-Head of the Financial Sponsor Group Alex Woodward, commented:

“Betty’s extensive experience and broad range of expertise, across a multitude of sectors, will complement our existing team, strengthening our private equity and financial sponsor capability in Asia to support our clients in achieving their strategic inbound and outbound investment objectives.”

Linklaters’ Asia Managing Partner William Liu, added:

“We are delighted to welcome Betty and Carl back to the firm. The hire of these prominent industry veterans reflects our commitment to further enhancing our truly ‘world class’ client offering. The wealth of experience they will bring to our well-established private equity/M&A and financial regulation practices, will enable us to provide unrivalled expertise to our clients to support them in maximising the opportunities in this diverse market.”