Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has seen another senior partner departure, with corporate and capital markets partner Ashar Qureshi leaving to join Fried Frank's London office.

He joins the US firm as head of its EMEA transactions practice, after four years as a partner at Freshfields.

Qureshi, who was previously a US corporate partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton from 1998, joined Moscow-based Renaissance Group in 2010, taking up a role as executive vice-chairman and CEO of Renaissance Asset Managers.

US-qualified Qureshi then joined Freshfields' London corporate team in 2014. His clients include governments, corporations and major financial institutions across a wide range of industries and jurisdictions.

During his time at Cleary he advised HSBC on its record-breaking £12.5bn rights issue in 2009, while earlier this year he was part of a Freshfields team that acted for UK Government Investments Limited – the body which advises the government on corporate finance and corporate governance investments – on the £2.5bn sale of a 7.7% stake in RBS.

In a 2009 interview with Legal Week, he said the most memorable deal he had ever worked on was the privatisation of Mexican telecoms company Telmex, on which he was "flung into the deep end" as a junior associate in Cleary's New York office in the early 1990s.

He is the latest in a line of heavyweight partner departures from Freshfields. High-yield star Ward McKimm left to rejoin Shearman & Sterling earlier this year, while earlier this month litigation partner Reza Mohtashami QC quit for litigation boutique Three Crowns, in a move that will reunite him with several of his former colleagues from the magic circle firm.

Fried Frank London managing partner Mark Mifsud said: "Ash is highly regarded in the legal community as one of the leading US securities and transactional lawyers, and his addition will help further strengthen our global transaction offerings to clients."

His arrival follows the departure of Fried Frank finance head Stuart Brinkworth to Mayer Brown earlier this year.

Freshfields said: "We thank Ash for his contribution to the firm and wish him well for the next phase of his career."

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