King & Spalding has added to its London corporate practice with the hire of partner Martin Hunt from New York firm Bracewell & Giuliani.

Hunt, who is UK qualified, advises on M&A, joint ventures, restructurings and private equity with a focus on oil and gas, telecoms, water, construction and chemicals. His main clients include Shell.

Hunt, who has been at Bracewell since 1995 having previously worked at Slaughter and May, will move to King & Spalding's London office.

London co-managing partner Garry Pegg commented: "[Hunt has an] impressive record of corporate transactions. His experience, a great deal of it in energy and private equity, makes him a perfect fit for our global transactional team."

Hunt added: "With the London office's transactional support base and the firm's international network of offices, King & Spalding offers a global platform from which I can take my practice to the next level."

The hire is the first partner addition since Pegg joined from legacy Hogan & Hartson with fellow energy partner Hywel Jones. The duo brought with them a team including one of counsel and two associates. The firm has 12 City partners.

Hunt's departure leaves Bracewell with just one partner in its London base – office head Adam Mozel.