Baker & McKenzie LLPannounced today the appointment of Peter Castellon as a Partner in theFirm's London Capital Markets Practice. Peter joins from Citigroupwhere he is currently Director and Counsel within their Markets &Banking Division.

Peter has been a member of the Citigroup legal team in London forthe last 7 years, advising its capital markets team on a wide range ofsecurities offerings and transactional activity including IPOs,follow-on and secondary offerings, block trades, rights offerings andofferings of convertible and exchangeable bonds. Prior to joiningCitigroup Peter worked in the Securities Practices of Freshfields inLondon and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in New York.

Peter is well known and highly rated by both the investment bankingcommunity and amongst capital markets lawyers.  He is a regular speakerand contributor to events and articles on capital markets andsecurities topics. He is currently Co-Chairman of the European HighYield Association's Accounting and Due Diligence Working Group.

2007 was another extremely successful year for Baker &McKenzie's Capital Markets Practice. It acted on a total of 30 dealsthat closed during 2007 with a total deal value of approximately US$20billion. Of these 30 deals, 18 were debt offerings and 12 were equityofferings; 23 were issuer representations and 7 were underwriterrepresentations.  The Practice acted on a broad range of complextransactions across jurisdictions including the CIS, Europe, the MiddleEast and Africa.

Head of Corporate, Michael Caro commented: "We are very pleased towelcome Peter to the Firm. Baker & McKenzie's Capital MarketsPractice is increasingly attracting a growing number of first tierinvestment banks as clients who have seen our strengths particularly inthe emerging markets. We are committed to growing the practice andPeter's appointment reflects our need to expand partner resources toservice a rapidly developing practice."

Peter commented: "I look forward to joining the firm. I have hadextensive dealings with Baker & McKenzie while at Citigroup as theyhave acted both for Citigroup and for issuers whose securitiesofferings have been underwritten by the bank. I have been consistentlyimpressed with their combination of first-rate international skills inLondon and local skills in other offices of the Firm."