Hogan Lovells has appointed corporate partner Andrew Pearson as its new London head of corporate finance.

Pearson (pictured), who will report to global corporate co-heads Andrew Skipper in London and Stuart Stein in Washington DC, joined Lovells in 1998 after qualifying at Linklaters.

Recent high-profile roles he has taken include advising SABMiller on its multi-
billion-dollar hostile takeover bid for Foster's, while he also advised the drinks company on mega-deals such as its 
2007 joint venture with Molson Coors Brewing Company and its $7.8bn (£4.8bn) acquisition of Grupo Empresarial 
Bavaria in 2005.

The firm has not had a corporate finance chief since the departure of Chris Ashworth to New York's Knight Vinke Asset Management in 2009.

At the time, Skipper stated the firm had no immediate plans to replace Ashworth as head of corporate finance – a role that was also vacant for several months between Hugh Nineham's departure to McDermott Will & Emery in 2007 and Ashworth's hire in 2008.

Skipper said: "Since the merger we have had time to refocus the London corporate finance practice. Given the momentum we have built over that time and the high-profile matters we have advised on, we feel that now is the time for a senior partner to take on the leadership of the practice."