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Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, Kirkland & Ellis, Ropes & Gray, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

A leading City partner at a US law firm describes Apax Partners’ GC Simon Cresswell as a ‘superstar’ who runs the private equity firm’s legal arm largely single-handedly.

Cresswell has been in the role for eight years and is ‘less focused on the deals and more about protecting the franchise’, according to the partner. ‘But things get elevated to him if there’s a problem – he’s clever, committed and admirable.’ Charles Barter, GC at private equity house Bridgepoint, adds that Cresswell is ‘commercially minded and thoughtful’ in the workplace. Cresswell was executive director and senior counsel at Goldman Sachs for seven years before moving to Apax. Prior to that, he was a lawyer for Davis Polk & Wardwell and Mallesons Stephen Jaques.

London-headquartered Apax has offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. It was founded in 1969 and is one of the oldest private equity companies operating internationally. Apax Funds invests in companies in the technology, telecommunications, healthcare, consumer and financial sectors. In January, it took a $200m minority stake in artificial intelligence company Fractal Analytics, which is based in India and the US. Last September, it snapped up North American franchiser of home services Authority Brands from private equity investor PNC Riverarch Capital for an undisclosed sum.

The private equity house has made other noteworthy investments over the years. In 2016, it acquired German pharmaceutical company neuraxpharm Arzneimittel and three subsidiaries of Spanish pharmaceutical group Invent Farma, which helped create Neuraxpharm, a European pharmaceutical company. And in 2011, Apax bought mobile phone operator Orange Switzerland from France Telecom Orange for €1.6bn before selling the operator three years later to NJJ Capital for €2.3bn.
Cresswell is no longer running the legal arm at Apax unaided after hiring a second lawyer late last year. – a compliance team of four people report to him.