Mayer Brown has hired Reed Smith's Europe and Middle East head of private equity Perry Yam, who resigned from Reed Smith in January after three years at the firm.

Yam joined Reed Smith to launch its City private equity practice after quitting legacy SJ Berwin, the UK arm of King & Wood Mallesons, where he spent 20 years in the private equity practice.

He will join Mayer Brown as London head of private equity.

Sean Connolly, London senior partner at Mayer Brown, said: "The private equity market is particularly active and looks set to remain so as private equity plays an increasingly important role in M&A and transactional activity."

News of his hire comes as limited liability partnership accounts for Mayer Brown in London, published this week, showed that profit available for division among members grew by over 20% from £29m to £35.5m while the firm slashed its net debt by 55% from £27m to £12.5m.

The average number of staff dipped slightly from 405 to 389 but staff costs remained flat at £31m.

Average profit per member rose by 20% from £429,000 to £515,464.

Meanwhile the highest paid member took home £1,387,153 from £1,317,046.

News of the hire comes after it emerged last month that Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson was launching a London restructuring practice with the hire of Mayer Brown's co-head of restructuring, bankruptcy and insolvency Ashley Katz.