Australian firm Gadens has closed its Singapore office following its tie-up with Dentons.

The closure is due to regulatory issues.

The tie-up with Gadens was voted through in November last year as global law firm Dentons combined with the Australian firm and Singaporean firm Rodyk & Davidson.

A spokesperson for Dentons said the office closure was "fully anticipated" and agreed as part of Dentons' combinations with both Gadens and Rodyk.

Gadens operates on a federalised model across Australia with its offices in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide set up as separate entities from those in Sydney, Perth, Singapore and Port Moresby, which are integrated.

The news comes as Nabarro has hired Gadens' Singaporean office managing partner, Marc Rathbone.

Rathbone founded the firm's office in Singapore in 2013. He specialises in infrastructure, construction and energy projects.

Nabarro has also boosted its technology capabilities with the hire of IT partner Sam De Silva from national UK law firm Penningtons Manches.

He joins Nabarro as head of the firm's IT and outsourcing group.

Following the announcement of the combination with Dentons, Rodyk introduced cuts to associate bonuses in September last year.

In an email entitled "tough times", managing partner Philip Jeyaretnam warned all lawyers in Singapore that "the next two or three years will probably be grim".

Dentons' rapid expansion in Asia-Pacific follows combinations in both the US and China last year.

In the US, Dentons completed its combination with domestic firm McKenna Long & Aldridge on 1 July 2015. Its tie-up with Chinese firm Dacheng, which was formalised in November, gave it an unrivalled presence in the country.

In Europe, the firm has established an Italian arm based in Milan, hiring seven lawyers as partners including three partners from DLA Piper.