Adam Bathgate has joined Walkers (Bermuda) Ltd as a partner in the firm’s Corporate, Finance, Funds and Insurance Group. Mr Bathgate started his career with Clifford Chance and was part of its leveraged finance group in London and Munich before spending eight years in the Cayman Islands, where his practice focused principally on debt finance and investment funds work. He joins Walkers from Carey Olsen Bermuda, having practised on the island since 2018. Mr Bathgate has market-leading expertise in the areas of fund finance, leveraged and acquisition finance and general lending. He has also worked on asset finance and structured finance transactions. In the funds sphere, Mr Bathgate’s practice is largely focused on the formation and maintenance of private equity, infrastructure and real estate funds, including related downstream deal work. He has been ranked as a “rising star” in banking and investment funds by IFLR 1000 for 2018 and 2019.Mr Bathgate said: “I welcome the opportunity to join a team with such a strong focus on client service and delivery and a stable of notable international and local clients. With the strength of the Walkers Global brand, I am very excited by the chance to build on the great work done to date by the lawyers here and I have no doubt that the firm will continue to grow.”Jonathan Betts, head of the group, said Mr Bathgate had “an excellent pedigree, both onshore and offshore, particularly in the finance space”. The Bermuda finance and corporate practice had built a strong client base of banks and financial institutions, Mr Betts added.“We are also now involved in an ever-increasing amount of blue chip corporate, M&A and investment work, flowing from Walkers’ strong global relationships with private-equity funds and sponsors, and increasing mandates from significant corporate groups. “Walkers has also been instructed on big-ticket local infrastructure transactions within the renewable energy industry and the hotel and leisure sector, leveraging the team’s decades of experience in the Bermuda market and familiarity with the local regulatory and governmental branches involved in such projects.”