DLA Piper has signed a cooperation agreement with Peru's Pizarro Botto & Escobar, as the firm continues to expand its presence in Latin America.

The Peruvian firm will take on the DLA branding, operating as DLA Piper Pizarro Botto Escobar.

The firm, which is headquartered in Lima, has 40 lawyers operating across practice areas including M&A, banking and finance, projects, tax, litigation, real estate and energy.

DLA Piper global co-chairman Roger Meltzer said: "We now have a presence in five of Latin America's largest economies, reflecting our investment philosophy in executing a pan-hemispheric strategy through the expansion of our regional network."

Fellow global co-chairman Juan Picon, said: "This is a great opportunity for our global platform at a time where investments from Europe and China are growing in Latin America, which complements our hemispheric approach."

Meltzer and Picon, the chairs of DLA's US partnership and its international partnership respectively, are jointly leading the firm's push into the region.

In December, the firm announced it was signng a cooperation agreement with a firm in Chile. This followed an office launch in Puerto Rico in July 2016 and cooperation agreements with firms in Colombia and Mexico, in addition to its alliance with Brazil's Campos Mello Pontes Vinci & Schiller, which was struck in 2010.

The firm has previously expressed an interest in rounding out its Latin America coverage via a move into Argentina.

Last week, the firm announced that it was closing offices in Berlin and Tbilisi.