Mark Thompson was highlighted in an article in The Deal covering his arrival in March to Covington’s London office as a partner and co-chair of the firm’s global private equity practice. The article frames Mark’s plan as a clear mission to bring the firm’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa private equity practices to par with the U.S., planning to, “first and foremost” hire a number of additional equity and leveraged finance lawyers.
"We want to marry up the amazing regulatory practices that we have here with leading, first-in-class deal lawyers," Mark explained within the context of building a strong reputation in the EMEA region regarding compliance and regulation advice to private equity clients.
"What I have seen, and what I've heard private equity clients complain about, is that private equity lawyers, when they're doing these transactions, they don't understand, or they completely dissociate themselves from any regulatory issues,” Mark added. “They outsource that, or they don't cover that. And as a result, I think there has been a little bit of breakdown sometimes between diligence teams and deal teams.”
Mark aims to offer clients specialized advice in heavily regulated industries, including life sciences, financial services, infrastructure, and technology. Additionally, Mark expressed he would combine those specialist areas with "a second layer of regulatory," including advice on sanctions, anti-money-laundering, and national security issues. In summary, Mark stressed the firm offers private equity clients advice on “what to be looking out for, above and beyond what’s in the data room,” with a team of lawyers who understand upcoming regulatory trends.
Within the context of Mark’s legal experience practicing in London and Moscow, and advising on investments in both western and eastern Europe, the U.S., Africa, and the Middle East, Mark remarked that despite the war in Ukraine, private equity would continue to view Eastern Europe with a pragmatic eye.
Mark explained there had not been much in the way of Western private equity investment in Russia since the invasion of Crimea in 2014, and for various reasons, Ukraine had always been difficult, with not even dedicated Eastern Europe funds really investing in the country. They would, however, be continuing to invest in their regular hunting grounds in Poland, Turkey, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
Because an attack on Poland or the NATO area would be "a complete catastrophe," they might be “a bit skeptical” at the moment, but they were still traveling to the region, looking at deals, and engaging with the Eastern European economies. However, Mark explained, "Most take the view that it is unlikely that the Russians are going to attack Poland, and Poland is a pretty strong participant in the Western European economy."
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