Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has bulked up its Asia arm with two energy partner hires from Allens Arthur Robinson (AAR) and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, as the firm prepares to launch in Singapore later this year.

Gavin MacLaren is set to join the magic circle firm from the Melbourne office of Australia's AAR. It is understood that he will be based in Freshfields' Singapore office when it launches later this year, working across the firm's other Asia bases in the interim.

Meanwhile, Milbank's Tokyo finance head Mark Plenderleith is set to join Freshfields in Japan. He has been a partner at the US firm since 2009, and has a practice focused on project finance across the energy and infrastructure sectors.

Freshfields Asia managing partner Rob Ashworth said: 'These two appointments, in addition to the new partners elected recently in the region, indicate how important the Asia markets are to the firm.

"Specifically, Gavin and Mark will increase the strength and depth of our specialist capabilities in the energy, natural resources and infrastructure sectors in the Asian region and substantially boost our client offering in what is a fast growing market."

News of the hires comes after it emerged earlier this year that Freshfields is planning to re-launch in Singapore in the third quarter of this year – five years after it closed its former office in the region.

The magic circle firm has been investing heavily in Asia over the past year with a number of partners relocating to the region from across its network. Four of the firm's 20 partner promotions announced last month are in Asia, with all in the Hong Kong office.

Linklaters is currently in talks with AAR about a formal alliance that would see the two firms enter into an exclusive referral relationship. A vote is set to take place at the magic circle's partner conference later this month.