Dentons has hired Michael Bosco as a partner to launch and lead the firm's U.S. desk in Italy.

Bosco, who will be part of the firm's corporate and M&A practice and based in Dentons' Milan office, will focus on cross-border between the U.S. and Italy. He previously worked at DLA Piper and Shearman & Sterling.

“The U.S. is still the largest industrial and financial investor in Europe and in Italy,” said Federico Sutti, Dentons' Italy managing partner. “Thanks to Michael's hire, we will be able to create greater synergies both with clients and Dentons' offices in the U.S.”

Bosco, who has dual Italian and U.S. citizenship and who speaks Italian, told Law.com he chose to join Dentons because it is a dynamic and energetic firm with high-quality lawyers.

“Dentons has the opportunity to become the number four firm [in Italy],” he said, noting this would rank it just behind the three biggest domestic Italian firms.

Bosco said that in his new role, he will focus on cross-border inbound and outbound M&A transactions for Italian and U.S. companies and also support the European capital markets practice on the U.S. law side.

“[Italian] firms are not very well equipped to do cross-border transactions,” he said.

Conversely, there was a “lot of value” in the Italian corporate sector, he said.

Bosco has worked in Italy for over 25 years, working first for Shearman & Sterling, opening their Italian office in the 1990s. In 2012, he joined DLA Piper and worked there until 2016 when he started a boutique firm acting in a general counsel role for some clients.

His experience includes work on IPOs, privatizations and high-yield transactions. He has also assisted sovereign wealth funds, developing a particular knowledge of the Middle East market.

Bosco speaks Spanish as well as Italian, and has also advised clients in Spain.