Linklaters spin-off firm Kinstellar has opened up an office in Belgrade with the hire of an M&A partner from Wolf Thiess.

Branislav Maric joined Kinstellar on 15 March from Wolf Theiss's Belgrade base. He is one of two partners and six lawyers in the new office, which will cover M&A, corporate and finance.

Corporate and M&A specialist David Davies is the office managing partner.

Kinstellar managing partner Jason Mogg told Legal Week: "Since our spin-off from Linklaters we have been planning to expand, not just in Serbia, but throughout central, eastern and southern Europe.

"We will be looking to grow further in the coming years, with Turkey on the near horizon."

Maric told Legal Week: "I regard Kinstellar as one of the leading law firms in our region, reaching out to a wider pool of clients. They have been servicing clients and involved in some of the largest deals in the area for a while now and I believe they better serve my career goals."

Kinstellar, which was formed in 2008 from the Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest and Prague offices of Linklaters, now has 15 partners across the board.

Linklaters' former head of capital markets, Nick Eastwell, joined as a senior consultant to set up a base in the City in October 2009.

However, Kinstellar has no plans to set up a full-scale London operation, and Eastwell is the only consultant in a small representative office.