Matthew Sperry and Matthew McKim join McDermott to service international HNWIs and Family Offices

Matthew Sperry and Matthew McKim have joined McDermott as partners, operating from the Firm’s offices in New York and Chicago. Previously, the two practised at DLA Piper.

At McDermott, Sperry and McKim will be part of the Firm’s Direct Investing practice, a distinctive offering that brings together practitioners from the Firm’s highly ranked Corporate, Tax and Private Client practices to provide High Net Worth clients with a broad spectrum of sophisticated legal services as they invest in and operate businesses globally. With their international focus, Sperry and McKim will help to expand the Firm’s work on behalf of wealthy families in Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as the financial institutions that cater to such families.

McDermott is one of the few law firms that has constructed a global platform of tax and wealth planning professionals across the United States, Europe and Asia that addresses the international tax and wealth planning challenges of an increasingly complicated, cross-border network of often uncoordinated rules and regulations. The McDermott Direct Investing practice broadens the Firm’s top-ranked global practices to integrate the investing activities of High Net Worth families across the globe with McDermott’s existing complex wealth planning and wealth transfer capabilities. McDermott recognizes that global wealth is becoming concentrated among individuals and families who are increasingly making their own investment decisions. Such wealth may be of the first or several generations, but its scale, and the scale of their investing, require a broad range of international tax, estate planning and family succession expertise.

Sperry’s experience includes:

• A Fortune Global 100 company in its disposition of a global manufacturing division conducting business in over 25 countries, leading a crossborder legal team of over 20 lawyers
• The family office of an ultra-high–net-worth family in its investment in global oil and gas properties, including the negotiation of a long-term development arrangement
• A Fortune Global 100 company in its acquisition of a water treatment business conducted in 15 countries
• The family office of an ultra-high–net-worth family in its acquisition of a Manhattan hotel and its redevelopment into a mixed-use project
• An ultra-high–net-worth family in its acquisition of a global hotel management company
• The family office of an ultra-high–net-worth family in its acquisition of a German-based manufacturer of precision industrial equipment
• The family office of an ultra-high–net-worth family in its acquisition in a Section 363 bankruptcy proceeding of a leading developer of road and paving technologies
• A Fortune Global 500 company in its disposition of its coffee business to a strategic buyer
• An ultra-high–net-worth family in its acquisition of numerous private aircraft, including developing and implementing a tax efficient structure for the aircraft and registering the aircraft with the FAA

McKim’s experienced includes:

• Representation of private equity and hedge funds organized in the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Barbados and the British Virgin Islands in connection with acquisitions of US businesses and various other business issues, including the acquisition of multimillion-dollar funds and other restructurings
• Representation of a private equity fund in connection with planning for an allocation of US$1 billion of cancellation of debt income and tax characterization issues regarding hedging transactions related to more than US$1 billion in allocable trading losses
• Representation on tax structuring matters related to the formation of a German-based private equity fund anticipated to raise US$1 billion to invest in seagoing cargo vessels having operational connections with US ports, specifically structured to utilize US tax laws to prevent the imposition of US tax on foreign investors
• Representation of high-net-worth US and non-US (e.g., German, Brazilian, Dutch and Mexican) families in their worldwide organizational and tax structures designed to reduce the incidence of worldwide income, capital, gift, estate, and generation-skipping taxes, including the establishment of foreign trusts for the benefit of US family members and counseling with respect to the new US expatriation taxes imposed upon such families
• Representation of a large privately held multinational group of foreign corporations in connection with the investment by US persons of US$100 million in shares of its stock, including the development of a structure designed to avoid classification as a “passive foreign investment company”
• Representation of billionaire families with respect to “institutionalization” of their wealth over multiple generations and jurisdictions, including establishment of licensed trust companies, family banks, and related structures facilitating the clients’ needs
• Representation related to tax matters of one of the world’s largest cement and concrete companies, in its US$600 million acquisition of a US-based cement and concrete company
• Representation of a private equity fund in a convertible debt–financed acquisition of a US-based business
• Planning and implementation of complicated “like kind” exchange programs

“Our sophisticated High Net Worth clients think multi-generationally and globally, and more and more they have concluded that an integrated direct investing model works best for them,” said McDermott Private Client partner Henry Christensen III. “Matthew and Matthew are two of the best Direct Investing lawyers in the world and we are delighted to bring them on board as we focus on the fast-changing needs of our clients.”

“Increasingly, wealthy families are turning away from more traditional investment strategies and hiring professional managers to oversee their investments on a direct basis,” added David Goldman, head of McDermott’s global Corporate Advisory Practice Group. “Our two new partners are joining our distinct Direct Investing practice; McDermott’s international approach to direct investing gives our clients premier tax and wealth planning experience that other firms do not provide.”

“There is quite simply no other law firm capable of serving the unique investing needs of High Net Worth individuals in this way,” said McDermott co-chair Peter J. Sacripanti. “We are strategically committed to having the best wealth management, corporate and tax lawyers in our U.S. and international offices. Adding Matthew Sperry and Matthew McKim to the Direct Investing team allows us to build upon our experience, and project our strength in new directions, as we seek to deliver the world’s finest client service.”

McDermott’s Direct Investing practice capitalizes on the Firm’s premier capabilities in three areas: private client/wealth management, tax, and corporate advisory. In the 2014 edition of Chambers USA, McDermott’s Private Client capabilities were honored with a national Tier 1 ranking in the Wealth Management category for the eighth consecutive year. McDermott was named “Law Firm of the Year” in Tax Law in the 2013 ”Best Law Firms” rankings published by U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers. McDermott is among the few, if any, law firms capable of offering the vital blend of in-depth, global wealth management, corporate and tax experience and highly-focused industry knowledge. The Firm was also named the 2014 “Team of the Year for M&A Mid-Market” in the inaugural Legal 500 US Awards.

McDermott’s Direct Investing practice is led by McDermott Corporate Advisory Practice Group Leader David Goldman. In addition to Mr. Sperry and Mr. McKim, other senior team members include Corporate Advisory partners Mark Selinger and Jake Townsend; Private Client partners Henry Christensen III, Carlyn McCaffrey, Richard Lang, William Butler, and Andrew Vergunst; and Tax partners Gary Karch and Daniel Zucker.

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