Independent Spanish firm Roca Junyent has acquired a four-partner local rival, gifting it an office in Shanghai.

The Barcelona-based firm has taken over Herrero & Asociados, a four-partner boutique with a five-lawyer Shanghai operation. The move gives Roca its first foreign office, although it has a number of alliances.

The Shanghai office, which was originally established by Herrero in 2002, will initially be known as Herrero Roca. It will eventually change its name to Roca Junyent and will make Roca the only other Spanish firm with a license to operate in the region alongside Garrigues. The office will be led by Barcelona-based partner Josep Herrero and will consist of three Spanish and two Chinese lawyers.

Roca's partner in charge of the overall China project, Anna Viladas, said: "The Shanghai office will focus on corporate work specialising in helping Spanish clients to do business in the region. Shanghai is a good door into Asia."

Other Spanish firms to have their eye on Asia include Cuatrecasas, which is seconding a lawyer to Herbert Smith's Shanghai arm with a view to opening a closely-linked China operation. The 165-lawyer Roca was formed in 1996 and benefited from the split of Mullerat Roca in 1998, when Sebastian Roca and his team joined Junyent Roca while Ramon Mullerat led his team into a separate venture, which subsequently dissolved last year.