Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has appointed corporate partners Simon Marchant and Ben Spiers to co-head its London M&A practice in a first time role for the magic circle firm.

Marchant and Spiers have taken up their new positions as City M&A co-heads for a two-year term. The roles have been created to share responsibility more widely within the London corporate team, with the duo set to work alongside City corporate head Julian Long. The pair take the helm of one of London's top transactional teams.

Long took over the role from former head Mark Rawlinson in July last year, when Rawlinson was appointed to the position of London managing partner.

Spiers commented: "The reasons that led to a slowdown in M&A activity levels since the credit crunch and financial downturn continue to play out but we are seeing a much healthier pipeline developing which is pointing to more sustained activity levels. These roles will boost our ability to coordinate among our sectors groups."

Marchant returned to London at the start of last year after spending two years as Asia managing partner based in the City firm's Hong Kong arm. Spiers has been at Freshfields since 1993 and is also global co-head of the firm's telecommunications, media and technology sector group.

Marchant has previously advised a string of clients on big ticket deals including Pearson, ScottishPower, EMI, PacificCorp and Mannesmann. Spiers has acting for Rolls-Royce, Smith & Nephew, Sony, Morgan Stanley and Babcock & Brown.

The news comes after Freshfields launched a new sector group in January this year – global financial investors – to bring together its client portfolio in private equity, infrastructure funds, sovereign wealth and alternative capital providers. The group is headed by corporate partners David Higgins in London and Ludwig Leyendecker in Cologne.