Covington & Burling has added four life sciences partners to its London office, from Morrison & Foerster. Paul Claydon, Natalie Diep, James Gubbins and James Halstead have all joined a team that is spread across London and Brussels in Europe. They advise life sciences, technology and renewable energy industry clients on mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and follow-on financings, and private equity and venture capital transactions. The team has worked together for many years, and was ranked first for number of UK pharmaceutical M&A deals for four years from 2007 to 2010. Notable transactions including advising Acambis on the £276 million recommended takeover offer from Sanofi-Aventis, IS Pharma on the recommended merger with Sinclair Pharma and Liberum Capital on the AIM IPO by HaloSource.