Allen & Overy (A&O) has added its first equity capital markets (ECM) specialist partner in Australia with the hire of Freehills corporate partner Tony Sparks.

Sparks, who has been a partner at Freehills since 2006, joined the magic circle firm today (18 August) as a partner in the Sydney office. His practice focuses on corporate and commercial transactions including IPOs and secondary offerings, public and private M&A, hybrid and retail bond issuances, structured products and privatisations.

A&O global co-head of corporate Sietze Hepkema said: "ECM was something that was lacking in our offering. While we feel that we are now the right size in Australia we have identified a number of areas where we need reinforcement and this was one of them. We hired Tony because of his fantastic track record and because he is very compatible with our firm."

A&O launched in Australia in April last year after making a large team hire from Clayton Utz, led by former A&O partner Grant Fuzi, who now heads the local practice. The hire brings A&O's Australian practice to 22 partners, in the firm's two offices in Sydney and Perth.

The news comes as Norton Rose announced global employment head Wayne Spanner is to take up the role of Australian managing partner from January next year, replacing Dan Boyd in the role. Boyd will remain deputy chief executive of the Norton Rose Group.

Norton Rose chief executive Peter Martyr commented: "Wayne has a strong track record of providing strategic, commercial and managerial advice. Wayne led a strong list of candidates for the role and I look forward to working with him as we move to the next stage of our global development."