Mr Mark Nuttall > Linklaters LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Linklaters LLP‘s water department is distinguished by its full service offering, providing advice in all key areas of the water sector, including M&A, finance, regulation and competition. Having been involved in the water sector since privatisation in the 1990s, the firm has a strong understanding of the sector. Julian Davies heads the water team and has expertise in financing and M&A matters. Natura Gracia, head of water regulation, specialises in competition law and has handled regulatory investigations and appeals to the CMA, including a successful price redetermination appeal in 2021 on behalf of Anglian Water and Northumbrian Water. Mark Nuttall heads the firm’s structured finance group and is an expert in infrastructure and utilities financing. Reza Taylor has acted on a number of restructuring matters and led on Anglian Water’s issuance of a sustainability-linked bond in 2021. Newly promoted counsel James McGivern is also recommended for infrastructure and utilities financing.

Linklaters LLP is ‘one of the most prominent structured finance and securitisation practices in the UK and Europe and it has been at the forefront of the market for many years, advising banks and other market participants on regulatory and legal changes across asset classes‘. The firm is active for major players across all asset classes, and has a growing niche among non-bank mortgage originators. Mark Nuttall leads the firm’s structured finance group, founded by standout securitisation partner Julian Davies. Adam Fogarty, who handles CMBS, RMBS and ABS transactions, acted for PIMCO in a £325m securitisation of non-performing electricity invoices for Public Power Corporation in Greece. Andrew Vickery leads the firm’s finance group and its covered bond practice. He assisted TwentyFour Asset Management with a £288m RMBS backed by owner-occupied mortgage loans secured on properties in the UK. Among the firm’s emerging partner talents, Alexander Shopov is ‘clever, hardworking and technically unbeatable‘, Reza Taylor is ‘creative and finds solutions others might overlook‘, and Thomas Quoroll has ‘an amazing ability to juggle multiple difficult matters and comfortably outperforms many partners from other firms‘. Manging associate Aditi Srivastava also plays a key role in the practice.