Davis Polk & Wardwell is to launch an office in mainland China, with the elite Manhattan firm yesterday (13 February) announcing plans to open in Beijing.

The office becomes the firm's third in Asia alongside existing operations in Hong Kong and Tokyo. It will be headed up by Hong Kong corporate partner Show-Mao Chen, who is relocating to Beijing.

Chen has been based in Davis Polk's Hong Kong arm since 1994 and was made a partner in 2000. His practice focuses on initial public offerings, privatisations and other securities offerings.

Notable mandates the firm has bagged on the mainland include acting as lead counsel to the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China on its $21.6bn (£11bn) dual-listed initial public offering (IPO) last year.

The firm has also landed advisory roles over the last 18 months on the IPOs of Air China, China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank, Sinopec, China Unicom and Baidu.com.

Last year also saw the 640-lawyer New York firm also cashing in on a record year in US M&A, advising on 83 US deals worth a combined value of $208.2bn (£107bn).