Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom is set to relocate senior City-based M&A partner John Adebiyi to Hong Kong in response to the loss of three corporate partners in the region to US rival Kirkland & Ellis.

Adebiyi, who joined Skadden in 1996 from Credit Suisse and made partner in 2001, has been given a remit to build the firm's UK M&A practice in Hong Kong.

The move follows last week's announcement that Kirkland had significantly bulked up its Asia arm with eight partners from Skadden, Latham & Watkins and Allen & Overy (A&O).

The departing partners included corporate co-heads Nicholas Norris and Dominic Tsun – who both resigned from Skadden earlier this month (5 August) – and fellow corporate partner Li-Chien Wong.

Co-head of global transactions Scott Simpson commented: "The departures have allowed us to refocus our strategy. One of our main aims in Asia is to significantly deepen our UK M&A bench, and John is very well-placed to make this happen."

He added: "We want to continue to emphasize an integrated cross-border M&A practice with UK, US and HK-qualified practitioners. Our M&A platform will also benefit with the addition of Clive Rough who is a senior UK and HK qualified finance partner."

While most American firms have previously only practised US law in Hong Kong, some have recently been motivated to move into local practice as a result of the surge of capital markets activity in Hong Kong, especially among companies from mainland China.

The news comes shortly after Skadden recruited Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's former Hong Kong managing partner Clive Rough, who retired from the magic circle firm's partnership in March 2010.

Click here for more on Kirkland's hires in Hong Kong