Ashley Ballard concentrates on corporate and corporate finance transactions with a particular emphasis on cross-border mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, public offers (including those governed by the Takeover Code), restructurings and buyouts. He has worked on transactions in the UK and across continental Europe and the CIS, involving a variety of industries, in particular, banking, real estate, electronics and automotive.

Mr. Ballard was recently appointed Head of Corporate in London and has previously worked in the Milan and Prague offices of White & Case.

Mr. Ballard has acted for numerous well-known banks, multinational corporations and governmental entities in the recent past, most notably:

• Advising Residential Capital LLC (ResCap), the mortgage subsidiary of GMAC Financial Services, on the sale of its European mortgage assets and businesses to subsidiary funds managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC;
• Advising the steering committee of lenders on the corporate aspects of the restructuring of the LINPAC Group undertaken by way of scheme of arrangement, CVA and a share acquisition;
• Leading the English law team advising Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, on its proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in the European operations of General Motors Company with Magna International, the Canadian auto-parts manufacturer;
• Advising Goldman Sachs (Whitehall Fund) on its acquisition of the Pokrovsky Hills real estate development in Moscow from Deutsche Bank and AIG;
• Representing Celestica Inc., a Toronto and New York listed EMS multinational, in connection with unrelated transactions in the UK, Italy, France, Poland, Holland, Germany and the Czech Republic;
• Advising Ali SpA, Europe's largest commercial catering equipment maker in its £260m acquisition of the global food services division from Aga Plc;
• Advising Rolls Royce on various joint ventures and commercial arrangements;
• Advising Umbro Plc on its acquisition of a Hong Kong sportswear manufacturing and sourcing operation and  separate acquisition of its French licences;
• Advising a multinational private group on its acquisition of an FSA regulated London based bank;
• Acting as lead partner advising UniCredito Italiano S.p.A. on the integration of its Central and Eastern European banking group with that of the Hypo Vereinsbank and Bank Austria group. The work involves overseeing the merger and restructuring of the individual banks of both groups in numerous countries including, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Croatia, Turkey, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria and Bosnia Herzogovna;
• Representing UniCredito Italiano S.p.A. as bidder in various bank privatisations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia and on its acquisition in Turkey of a 50% stake in Koçbank, and associated joint venture; and
• Advising Doughty Hanson real estate fund in relation to its US$217m joint venture with Liberty Property Limited Partnership structured through a Jersey Property Unit Trust.

Bars and Courts
Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, 1995

Education
Law Society Finals, London Guildhall University, Honours, 1993
BA, Economics and Politics, University of Durham, Joint Honours, 1991

Languages
English

Citizenship
British