City Moves for 4 April 2019 – Who’s switching jobs at McLarens, Shearman & Sterling and Astarte Capital Partners?

Today's City Moves includes McLarens, Shearman & Sterling and Astarte Capital Partners.

McLarens

Global independent insurance services provider McLarens announced the appointment of Graham Smart to the newly created global role of chief commercial officer. In this new position, Graham will work closely with McLarens chief executive officer Gary Brown and the firm’s global management team to provide comprehensive leadership of McLarens’ global commercial strategy and expanding service offerings. Graham, who has served as the firm’s managing director in the UK and Europe for more than five years, will continue in a significant client service capacity. He will manage relationships with McLarens’ key global clients and will lead the firm’s proposition with blue chip account business. As chief commercial officer, Graham will also play an active role in identifying, integrating and anticipating client needs from a holistic perspective. Working with internal business partners in technology and operations, as well as regional and specialty practice leaders around the globe, Graham will drive innovation and the development of expanded product offerings, as well as enhanced technology, systems and processes to meet the needs of the market. He will be replaced as managing director by Steven Wallace.

Shearman & Sterling

Shearman & Sterling has announced that Sara Ashall joins the firm as counsel in the antitrust practice. Sara focuses on EU merger control, cartel investigations, antitrust proceedings and EU state aid law. Sara spent five years as an associate in the Shearman & Sterling’s antitrust group before moving to the technology, media and telecommunications merger unit of DG Competition at the European Commission. This is the fifth senior hire Shearman & Sterling has made into its global antirust practice in the last 12 months.

Astarte Capital Partners

Astarte Capital Partners, a specialist alternatives co-investment platform with a focus on value-add real asset strategies, announces two appointments to its London-based investment team. Nick Clayton joins as investment director. Nick has over ten years of experience in public and private real estate covering all aspects of investment and asset management across a wide range of sectors, structures and jurisdictions in Europe. Prior to joining Astarte Capital Partners, Nick worked in fund management and investment at BlackRock and MGPA on opportunistic and value-add pan European real estate. Shaun Allan joins as an investment associate. Shaun joins Astarte from Royal Bank of Canada in London, where he spent almost two years advising on the buy side and sell side M&A transactions across the utilities, renewables and transport sectors.