Ashurst wins Law Firm of the Year Europe at Private Debt Investor Awards 2018

International law firm Ashurst has been named Law Firm of the Year (Europe) at the Private Debt Investor ("PDI") awards 2018, the third time that the firm has won this award.

Ashurst was recognised for its strength in both the fund formation and transactional matters. The firm was particularly commended for its work on the establishment of ICG's €4.5 billion target ICG Europe Fund VII, the €625 million Five Arrows Direct Lending Fund and Shard Credit Partners' inaugural, lower mid-market direct
lending fund, Shard Credit Partners I Fund.

The PDI Awards are the only independent industry awards voted for the industry, by the industry. The awards were presented for 39 categories recognising firms in three geographic regions: Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific and one global category. Winners were selected by eligible voters among the private debt, private equity and institutional limited partner communities, with roughly 3,000 separate votes cast.

Piers Warburton, global head of investment funds at Ashurst, said:

"We are delighted to have been recognised as Law Firm of the Year Europe for the third time at the PDI Awards. We are very proud of the long term partnerships we form with market-leading fund managers and we are investing substantially in our funds practice, including in both London and Luxembourg, to grow our business further. The fact that this award is voted for by our clients and their peers is a testament to our whole team's focus on the highest level of client service delivery.

Our global funds practice has enjoyed an outstanding year, advising a host of clients including Inflexion, Intermediate Capital Group, Equitix, Altor, N M Rothschild, CapMan and Aviva Investors. We have also continued to strengthen our client offering with the recent appointment of partners Nicola Hopkins in London and Antonios Nezeritis in Luxembourg."