Linklaters has bolstered its corporate and M&A team in Paris with the arrival of Florent Mazeron from Magic Circle rival Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Private equity expert Mazeron joins the firm as a partner, bringing with him a wealth of experience working on major buyout deals and other corporate transactions in both the public and private market. 

The firm will hope Mazeron’s arrival can help boost its M&A advisory work in France – it was absent from Mergermarket’s top 20 advisors by deal count and deal value in France in the first quarter of the year, though it ranked 12th by deal value and 7th by deal count in the Europe-wide rankings.

He was on the Freshfields team that in February advised HIG Capital on the acquisition of the sports marketing business Lagardère Sports and last month acted for Swedish private equity firm EQT on its investment in medical diagnostics company Cerba HealthCare, which is expected to represent 40-45% of the business.

Bertrand Andriani, national managing partner for Linklaters in France, said: “This recruitment and our recent promotions reflect the firm’s commitment to provide its clients with greater strength, particularly in corporate/private equity, which is one of Linklaters’ core businesses and offers clear synergies with our other practice groups in Paris and throughout our network, such as banking, tax, employment, intellectual property and technologies.”

Mazeron spent roughly seven years at Freshfields, becoming a partner in 2016. He previously spent almost a decade at French boutique firm Bredin Prat.

Aedamar Comiskey, global head of corporate at Linklaters, said: “Florent brings with him outstanding experience which will further strengthen both our Paris corporate/private equity practice and our global network of corporate lawyers.”

Mazeron’s arrival follows the exit of Linklaters’ former Paris-based M&A partner Marc Petitier last December to White & Case, which was placed sixth in Mergermarket’s Q1 France table by value, advising on six deals valued at $3.8bn.

Despite Linklaters’ comparatively slower start to the year for M&A advisory work in mainland Europe compared to the opening three months of last year, the firm had a stronger start in Asia. It topped Mergermarket’s advisory rankings by deal value in the region, working on eight deals worth almost $18bn. 

It also had a stronger start in the UK, ranking 8th by deal value – advising on more than $20bn of transactions, up from 15th place in the same period last year – although it worked on fewer deals, slipping 12 places to 16th by deal count.

In January, Hogan Lovells hired a team of M&A and private equity lawyers from Baker McKenize in Paris.