Goltsblat BLP has strengthened its Russian banking and finance team with the appointment of a new partner from Linklaters.

Oleg Khokhlov will join Goltsblat BLP's Moscow arm later this month from Linklaters, where he was a managing associate in the firm's local office.

Khokhlov specialises in secured and unsecured lending transactions in the banking, telecommunications and energy sectors and his appointment makes him the third English-law qualified partner to be based in the firm's Russian office.

His new role will include working with projects and infrastructure partner Simon Allan, who relocated from Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP's) London office in December, to build the firm's local finance capabilities.

Allan commented: "Clients are much busier with markets recovering, particularly in corporate and real estate, so we feel it is necessary to strengthen our Russian office to meet this demand. We do, in time, expect to have a small number of further additions at partner level in the region."

Khokhlov began his career at Linklaters in 2001 and since then has advised Barclays Capital on a £1.2bn syndicated loan to Russia's Sberbank and acted for PepsiCo in connection with its £2.3bn acquisition of Russian food and beverage company Wimm-Bill-Dann.

Goltsblat BLP was formed at the beginning of 2009 through a merger between partners and lawyers from Russian leader Pepeliaev Goltsblat & Partners and BLP. It now has more than 90 Russian and English-qualified lawyers in Moscow.

According to BLP, the Moscow office saw fee income increase by 25% during 2010-11, against a 20% increase in firmwide turnover to £229m and an estimated 56% rise in profits per equity partner.