Kirkland & Ellis has hired highly-rated private equity partners Gavin Gordon and David Arnold from Ashurst, Legal Week can reveal.

The duo are set to join Kirkland's City office, marking the US firm's first major investment in London since 2008.

It is understood that Kirkland has offered seven-figure pay deals to the pair, who are expected to be tied into a six-month notice period at Ashurst.

Gordon (pictured) has been a partner at Ashurst since 2007, and has advised on deals including Russian steel giant Rusal's £2.8bn debt restructuring in April last year and the takeover of Lehman Brothers' European investment banking division by Nomura in 2008.

Arnold made partner in last year's promotions round and soon after was part of the Ashurst team advising the consortium of lenders on Charterhouse Capital Partners' £553m leveraged buyout of energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

Both Gordon and Arnold had been touted as future stars by Ashurst and their departure will be seen a blow for the firm, following an 18-month period which has seen a large number of partners leave.

Ashurst senior partner Charlie Geffen told Legal Week: "We are sorry to see them go and obviously we wish them well for the future."

The hires mark the second major push Kirkland has made into the private equity market in London after the 2006 double partner hire of Raymond McKeeve and Graham White from Linklaters.

McKeeve subsequently resigned in 2008 and, after a spell in-house as an investment professional for property mogul Robert Tchenguiz, joined Berwin Leighton Paisner as a partner in March last year.

Kirkland London head Jim Learner said: "Private equity is our core focus in London and our primary focus globally. The hires are an opportunity for us to extend and expand that practice. These are top-quality lawyers with significant relationships in the industry that we hope that we can bring over to our firm to help us expand our brand further."

Kirkland has a track record of luring quality teams away from UK firms having turned to SJ Berwin in 2007 for a three-partner funds team comprising Mark Mifsud, Richard Watkins and Justin Dolling.

The top 10 US firm's last partner hires in the City came in 2008 with the addition of restructuring specialists Jason Salman and Paul Atherton from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and Sidley Austin respectively.

However, the firm has since then seen a number of departures from its City restructuring team, including European practice chief Lyndon Norley, who quit to launch a London restructuring practice for Greenberg Traurig Maher.