Swedish independent Magnusson has recruited six partners for the firm's new Helsinki office with a raft of local hires.

Peltonen Ruokonen & Itaeinen managing Tomi Merenheimo is set to take up the role of Helsinki managing partner when the new Magnusson office opens on 1 March 2011. He joins alongside Peltonen corporate and M&A partner Mika Oksanen.

Also joining the new office from other Helsinki firms are dispute resolution partner Jukka Blomberg of Spartax and Finessi real estate partner Essi Rikalainen.

In addition, finance and capital markets senior associate Mika Lehtimaeki will join from Dittmar & Indrenius, while intellectual property (IP) counsel Jan Lindberg has been hired from Castren & Snellman, with both set to join the partnership at Magnusson.

Magnusson senior partner Per Magnusson said: "We are confident of a strong start in Helsinki with these six new partners, which will give us a fairly broad practice offering from the beginning, and we expect to reach around 20-25 lawyers in the office in the coming year or so.

"The firm as a whole is doing well at the moment and we will continue to look at further opportunities for growth. One thing we are looking at in the relatively near future is an offering in the Baltic States."

The office will open with a total of 13 lawyers and a practice offering including M&A, real estate, IP, banking and finance and dispute resolution.