Mourant du Feu & Jeune, part of Mourant, has hired two partners, Richard de Basto and Matthew Feargrieve, for its Cayman funds and finance practice groups. Mr de Basto joins from Allen & Overy, where he was a partner for close to eight years in the firm's London, Hong Kong and Amsterdam offices. His current practice includes Islamic finance, restructuring and insolvency, leveraged finance, global loans, securitisation and real estate finance. Based in the Cayman Islands, he will focus on further advancing Mourant du Feu & Jeune’s Cayman finance practice. Mr Feargrieve joins from Maples and Calder, where he was senior associate in the London office, advising on Cayman and BVI investment fund structures for hedge and private equity funds. In his current practice, he works with onshore counsel in the US, EU and MENA on multi-jurisdictional transactions. Working from Mourant du Feu & Jeune’s London offices, he will advise on Cayman law alongside the Cayman-based funds team as headed by partner Neal Lomax. Stephen Ball, chief executive of Mourant du Feu & Jeune, said: “We are delighted to welcome Richard and Matthew to Mourant, as they join us on our Cayman offensive following our merger with Cayman firm Quin & Hampson in 2007. Our plans for international expansion see us growing organically, acquiring and/or merging – leaving no stone unturned.” The firm says the wave of new Cayman senior hires is set to continue with more announcements to come.