Taylor Wessing has added four partners to its Frankfurt base, including the hire of a capital markets team from Linklaters.

Linklaters partner Christoph Vaupel will join Taylor Wessing as an equity partner along with two managing associates, who will join as fixed-share partners.

Vaupel will head the firm's new German capital markets practice, which will operate out of Munich and Frankfurt. Taylor Wessing's German capital markets operation was formerly part of the firm's corporate and M&A practices. Before joining Linklaters in 2001, Vaupel was a partner at Oppenhoff & Raedler.

The trio's start date at Taylor Wessing is expected to be at the end of summer or early autumn.

In addition, former Linklaters managing associate Lars-Gerrit Luessmann has also joined the firm as an equity partner as of 1 July. Luessmann, who left Linklaters in September, specialises in public takeovers and M&A work.

German corporate head Eernst-Albrecht von Beauvais commented: "We are very happy that we were able to win the high-calibre team led by Christoph and Lars-Gerrit for Taylor Wessing, continuing the dynamic growth of our corporate practice. With the new team we will further increase our profile, particularly in the transaction business but also in capital markets and company law."

Luessmann added: "Taylor Wessing offers excellent potential for development. The leading China practice places us in the perfect position to handle initial public offerings of Chinese companies in Frankfurt, to advise on inbound and outbound investments involving China in the M&A sector and to benefit from the economic growth in China."

The hires come after Taylor Wessing announced its 2010-11 financial results in May, with the firm posting an 8% increase in global revenues, up from £177.9m in 2009-10 to £191.3m.