Travers Smith has appointed Adrian West head of corporate M&A and equity capital markets. He succeeds Andrew Gillen, who has been elected a senior partner. West will work alongside Lucie Cawood, head of the private equity and financial sponsors group, in leading the firm’s corporate offering. West’s practice is focused on equity capital markets and M&A, and he is also head of the retail sector group. He has extensive experience in domestic and cross-border M&A, public takeovers, demergers, and joint ventures. Travers Smith’s corporate practice has 21 partners and more than 100 lawyers.

Gibson Dunn has launched in Saudi Arabia with a seven-partner, Riyadh-based team: partner-in-charge Megren Al-Shaalan (1); corporate finance partners Mahmoud Abdel-Baky (2), Mohamed AlHasan (3) and Jonathan Langley (4); capital markets partner Ibrahim Soumrany (5); Mohammed Bashir (6) and Lars Petersen (7). Gibson Dunn has significantly expanded in the Gulf in the past year, with 14 new partners and 19 new associates.