U.K. firm Pinsent Masons has announced that it will open two Australian offices in Sydney and Melbourne on May 1 to ride the growing wave of infrastructure deals in the country.

The Australia practice will focus primarily on inbound infrastructure work from the firm's existing clients in Hong Kong, China and Singapore. The practice will be led by Pinsent Masons Melbourne-based consultant David Rennick. He joined the firm in March 2014 from Australian firm Maddocks, where he had been a partner since 1995. Rennick also served as Maddocks' chief executive officer between July 2008 and December 2013.

Five partners will split their time between Melbourne and Sydney. Maddocks Melbourne-based infrastructure practice head Greg Campbell and partner Simela Karasavidis will also decamp to Pinsent Masons. They will be joined by partners Michael Battye, Adam Perl and Andrew Denton. Battye joins from his own Adelaide-based construction law practice QED Legal, while Perl is in-house counsel for Australian construction company Leighton Contractors. Denton, a construction disputes partner at Pinsent Masons, will relocate from London.