King & Wood Mallesons' (KWM) global M&A coordinator Tim Bednall is to relocate to London on a two-year secondment.

Previously chairman of the Australian board and currently head of M&A and tax for the firm in Australia, Bednall will move to the UK in January 2015, stepping down from his national management role.

He will be replaced Sydney-based Michael Barker, who has 20 years of experience in private equity and M&A and has worked for the firm for nine years.

Senior capital markets partner David Friedlander will meanwhile become the head of public M&A, and ex-Baker & McKenzie lawyer Mark McNamara will oversee private equity. Justin Cherrington will remain head of the national taxation team and the global practice coordinator for tax across the network.

Bednall's move to London comes just a few months after London and Europe corporate chief Steven Davis quit the firm to join the London office of Proskauer Rose.

Davis, who was a legacy SJ Berwin partner and among a group at the City firm to initiate merger talks with Proskauer in 2010, stood down as corporate head in December 2013, after seven years in the position.

He was replaced by new co-practice heads Michael Goldberg and Richard Lever.

The transition is also a year and half after the Sino-Australian giant King & Wood Mallesons sealed its merger with UK outfit SJ Berwin – approved in July 2013.

The combination, which created a $1bn (£657m) firm, has been marred by a string of departures and management changes, including that of legacy Mallesons partner and ex-Australian managing partner Tony O'Malley and Bednall's M&A and tax predecessor Tim Blue, both of whom are now at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).