Mayer Brown, which suffered a string of partner departures in Hong Kong last year, has hired corporate partner Steven Tran from Hogan Lovells in Hong Kong.

Tran specialises in private equity, mergers and acquisitions and joint venture transactions. Last year, he advised London-based private equity firm Permira and its portfolio company Tricor Group, a Hong Kong-based back-office service provider, on Tricor's acquisition of financial and corporate services provider Madison Pacific Group.

Tran joins Mayer Brown after five years as a partner at Hogan Lovells. Previously, he was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis.

Mayer Brown suffered several senior departures in Hong Kong in 2018, including a six-lawyer team led by former senior partner Elaine Lo and securities partner Nicholas Chan, who left for the Chinese firm Jingtian & Gongcheng. It also lost longtime partner and former corporate practice leader Martin Robertson to Big Four accounting firm PwC's affiliate law firm, and banking and finance partner Ashley Wong to King & Wood Mallesons. In addition, corporate finance partner James Fong jumped to Bird & Bird, and capital markets partner Derek Tsang left to launch his own firm.

Hong Kong-based Jason Elder, who co-leads Mayer Brown's corporate and securities practice, said in a statement that the firm expects to continue to grow its corporate practice, particularly in private equity, to meet client demand in the Asia-Pacific region.

In January 2018, Mayer Brown recruited private equity specialist and former Debevoise & Plimpton counsel Brian McKenna as a partner in Hong Kong.

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