Salans has ended its association with Hong Kong firm Pang & Co, exiting its office on the island and deregistering as a local practising law firm.

Partners voted to end the association in late March, although the firms will still maintain a informal referral relationship. Salans now has just one China base in Shanghai, after voting to close its Beijing office earlier this year.

No redundancies are anticipated as a result of the move, as the Hong Kong office is entirely staffed by Pang & Co employees.

Salans moved into Hong Kong in April 2009 on the back of the association with the 12-lawyer firm. Although not an exclusive referral relationship, it saw the vast majority of work exchanged between the two. Pang & Co's sole partner is founder Benny Pang, and the firm will remain in the same office, focusing on corporate, banking and finance work.

Salans' solitary hire for the office, arbitration partner Darren Fitzgerald, who joined from Bird & Bird in 2010, left in April as final board approval was being obtained for the withdrawal.

A Salans spokesperson commented: "The only change is that we are no longer on Pang & Co's letter head or in the Hong Kong register of firms. From a client and work point of view there is no difference, as our Hong Kong clients are already talking to Pang & Co and we will continue to use them if our international clients have local law needs."

The news comes after the closure of Salans' Beijing office was announced last month. There is no set timeframe for the closure of the five-person office, but the process of deregistration has begun and the sole full-time member of staff, managing counsel Aiping Bao, is relocating to Shanghai.

"We want to refocus on Shanghai. Experience has shown we need to focus our direct efforts and resourcing there. China is a developing market that's changing rapidly – we have to learn what works for us and for our clients – part of being successful is knowing how to adapt," the spokesperson added.