Allen & Overy (A&O) has hired Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson London partner Alasdair Balfour for its competition and antitrust group.

Balfour, who joins A&O's City office today (1 May), advises multinational clients on UK and EU antitrust matters, with a particular focus on cross-border merger control, cartel work and other antitrust infringements and merger investigations.

He joined Fried Frank from Olswang in 2010, having joined the UK firm in 2007 as a partner after a decade at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

During his career, Balfour has also practised antitrust in Brussels and Washington DC and has worked in-house at Visa Europe during a secondment as competition counsel.

In 2011, he was part of a Fried Frank team that advised European private equity house Permira on its $1.5bn (£967m) acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent's Genesys business.

Mark Friend, head of A&O's London antitrust group, said: "We've made a number of important hires across the firm recently and Alasdair's experience will fit perfectly in our highly regarded London practice."

"We are very pleased Alasdair is joining us in London," added Elaine Johnston, "As our global team continues to work on the most complex cross-border matters our intention is to build on our capability in London and grow significantly in other key hubs including Brussels, Beijing and Washington DC."

Fried Frank said in a statement: "We have strong capabilities in London and remain absolutely committed to the growth of our core practices in the UK. We wish Alasdair well."