Ashurst has brought onboard James Ford as a partner in its global investment funds practice in Hong Kong to strengthen the firm’s regional presence.
“James’ strong relationships with sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors in Asia and in the Middle East, in particular, will help support the realisation of our APAC [Asia-Pacific] growth strategy and the expansion of our client base across the region,” Nick Goddard, Ashurst’s global practice head of investment funds, told Asia Business Law Journal.
Ford previously worked as a partner at A&O Shearman and managing partner at O’Melveny & Myers’ Hong Kong office. He brings experience in private equity and alternative asset classes, specialising in fundraising, secondary transactions, asset manager M&A, strategic investments and capital markets transactions. He is a pioneer in the APAC secondaries market, with strong relationships with sovereign wealth funds across Asia and the Middle East.
Goddard highlighted how Ford’s appointment will help the firm as the APAC region’s increasingly complex regulatory, tax and transactional landscape has created a growing demand for legal services. “James’ appointment will increase our capability to support our APAC clients through these complexities,” said Goddard.
