Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has announced plans to open a Hong Kong office with a hire of a new partner from Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, reports The Am Law Daily.

Weiheng Chen, formerly a counsel in Milbank's Hong Kong and Beijing offices, will join leading Silicon Valley firm Wilson Sonsini as a corporate and securities partner and co-head of the China practice.

Chen, who specialises in M&A and private equity transactions, has worked in the region since 2003, and joined Milbank in 2008 from the Hong Kong office of Sullivan & Cromwell, where he was an associate.

He has worked on several major transactions, including the 2008 acquisition of Singapore's Tuas Power by China's state-owned power-generation company Huaneng Group for $4.2bn and the 2007 initial public offering (IPO) of Chinese business-to-business Internet giant Alibaba.com.

Wilson Sonsini currently is seeking approval for its new office from the Hong Kong Law Society. A Hong Kong office will be the second in Asia for the firm after launching in Shanghai in 2005. That office has been led by Carmen Chang, who divides her time between China and California. Chang will continue as co-head of Wilson Sonsini's China practice.

"Opening an office in Hong Kong – a leading global capital market and one of China's key business centres – is the logical next step," Wilson Sonsini chief executive officer Steve Bochner said in a statement, "and Weiheng is the perfect partner to help Carmen lead the charge."

Hong Kong has benefited over the past decade from a shift in international firms' China practice away from foreign direct investment towards capital markets transactions.

Wilson Sonsini is best known for its work for technology companies, including Apple and Google, and the firm recently advised antivirus software maker McAfee on its $7.7bn (£4.9bn) takeover by Intel.

The Am Law Daily is a blog on law.com, Legal Week's US affiliate title.