Clifford Chance (CC) is relocating London private equity partner Simon Cooke to the firm's Hong Kong office.

Cooke, who has been a partner at CC since 2006, advises on private equity and M&A and will work closely with Hong Kong corporate finance partner Andrew Whan.

The move marks CC's third recent partner relocation to Asia after the firm announced at the end of March that it was sending London partner duo Catherine Cook and Andrew Rolfe to Abu Dhabi, along with a team of associates.

The magic circle firm has recently landed a raft of large Asian instructions, including scoring a plum role advising the Aluminium Corporation of China on its $19.5bn (£13.7bn) strategic partnership with mining giant Rio Tinto.

Cooke advised on that transaction from the firm's City headquarters, alongside a large team headed up by corporate partners Kathy Honeywood and Nigel Wellings.

Whan said: "[Simon's] experience in the more established UK and European private equity markets, including take-private transactions, is welcome given the continued shift in transaction trends from the more mature private equity markets to the Asian private equity market and the current interest in the public markets shown by our private equity clients."

CC also recently acted for UBS on the largest initial public offering in Hong Kong so far this year, advising the Swiss banking giant on Chinese liquor distributor Silver Base's placement on the main Hong Kong Stock Exchange.