Clyde & Co has become the latest international firm to secure a licence to open in Beijing, as the expansive firm continues its recent global growth.

The UK outfit applied for a licence in the Chinese capital at the beginning of last year, in the hopes of tapping the outbound investment market driven by state-owned enterprises.

The Beijing base will be Clydes' third in Greater China, alongside Shanghai – which opened in 2006 and now has five partners and 20 lawyers – and Hong Kong, which launched in 1981 and now counts 11 partners and 38 legal staff.

The news comes after the firm last month secured a Madrid launch with the hire of a four-partner insurance team from DAC Beachcroft, while the firm also last year opened for business in Libya.

The Beijing office will be led by corporate partner Lynia Lau, who will initially work alongside one associate, with support from Clydes' Asia managing partner Michael Parker in Hong Kong and the firm's Shanghai head Ik Wei Chong.

Both Lau and the associate are currently based in Hong Kong but are originally from Beijing and have an established list of local contacts. The duo are expected to relocate to Beijing this month.

Speaking to Legal Week, Michael Parker said the firm would focus on the natural resources, energy and infrastructure sectors, in particular oil and gas, LNG, mining and renewables. The base will also target asset and project finance, international arbitration and dispute resolution. He said the office would grow gradually in line with the needs of the business, but that the firm had no specific targets for partner or lawyer numbers.

"Beijing has been part of our regional growth plans for some time," he said. "We have existing Chinese SOE clients but it is plain that to be credible you have to be there and they want us on the spot.

"Chinese state-owned enterprises are targeting investments in projects in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, India and there aren't many firms that can handle all of that.

"We have four offices in the Middle East, two in Africa, more in Latin America and a presence in India through our association with Clasis Law. We will start with a small select resident team and both myself and Ik Wei Chong will be there regularly to provide support."

The office will be located in newly leased premises in Oriental Plaza along Chang An Avenue, where a number of other firms including Sidley Austin and K&L Gates are also based. It is expected to be fully operational in the coming months.

Asia-Pacific board member Ik Wei Chong said the firm's China presence had transformed significantly in the past three years.

"While we continue to support international clients in their business activities and legal needs in China, more than half of our revenue is now generated from Chinese and China-based clients. The majority of these Chinese clients, particularly the state-owned enterprises, are headquartered in Beijing."

Clydes currently has five Asia-Pacific offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Perth. In February, the firm told Legal Week it was in the process of finalising an agreement with a local firm in Indonesia, which it expected to launch early this year and which would be overseen by Indonesian practice head Michael Horn.