Senior partners Larry Kwok and Conrad Chan have left King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) with an eye to establish their own Hong Kong boutique.
Kwok and Chan both joined the firm in 2004 – the year legacy Mallesons merged with Hong Kong-based corporate finance boutique Kwok & Yih.
Kwok is a specialist in corporate finance, securities, public and private M&A. As managing partner for Asia strategy and markets at the firm, he was instrumental in the growth of its Hong Kong office. In 2013 he became commissioner at the newly-created Hong Kong Competition Commission and most recently was appointed chairman of Hong Kong’s Police Complaints Commission.
Chan – strong in M&A, restructuring & insolvency, and capital markets - sits on the Takeovers and Mergers Panel, and the Takeovers Appeals Committee of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC). He is also a member of the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal.
In a statement to IFLR1000, KWM said: “Our strategy is to maintain and build the talent and capability in capital markets and M&A to support our leading brand in the Asia Pacific region. We do not believe that their departures from the firm affect that strategy.”