Proskauer Rose has hired funds partner Yong Ren from Mayer Brown JSM as part of a wider plan by the US firm to enhance its capabilities in China and Hong Kong.

Ren, who was previously with Mayer Brown in Hong Kong and has extensive experience in private equity fund formation in Asia, will join Proskauer in Beijing alongside the firm's other resident partner there Joseph Cha, also a funds specialist.

Prior to Mayer Brown Ren was a lawyer in the New York offices of Simpson Thacher and Ropes & Gray.

Yuval Tal, who heads Proskauer's Hong Kong office, said his recruitment was part of a wider plan to increase the number of partners in Hong Kong and China and develop the Asian practices.

The firm currently has three partners in the Hong Kong office, which opened five years ago, and two in Beijing, which launched in 2011, both focusing on private equity and big ticket M&A work.

Tal said the firm would continue to concentrate on PE and in particular on real estate and US dominated funds, but was also looking to add capability in capital markets and litigation, and for local as well as international work.

"The strategy is to focus on private equity, on both funds formation and transactional side, but we do intent to have some capital markets presence and perhaps we will have some litigation capability.

"[For PE], in London we have a strong funds formation practice – one of the largest in terms of the number of partners, and we intend to do the same thing here."

He added that the firm would also likely apply for a licence to open in Shanghai when permitted; whilst it was increasingly acting for Chinese sponsors of US dominated funds and had the capability to work on RMB funds if required.

The firm's chairman Joseph M. Leccese said in a statement that Asia was a priority market for Proskauer, with structuring funds and investments focused funds in the region poised for growth.

The New York headquartered firm currently has 13 offices around the world, two of which are in Asia, and is among a string of US firms to have entered the region in recent years with a view to tapping China for work.

Its Hong Kong office was the first to launch in 2008 with two senior partners from Heller Ehrman in Beijing. 

Joseph Cha was head of the Asian private equity and fund formation practice for Heller, whilst Ying Li led the firm's China practice.

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