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The steady stream of departures from Linklaters in Asia has continued after Kirkland & Ellis landed debt finance partner David Irvine in Hong Kong.

Irvine specialises in cross-border acquisition and leveraged financing transactions, and his experience covers margin loans, restructurings, investment grade lending as well as pre-IPO and project financing. His recent work included representing a bank group composed of BNP Paribas, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs Group on a $1.3 billion loan to back a $3 billion deal to purchase China-based game developer Giant Interactive Group.
 
A Kirkland & Ellis spokesperson said that Irvine is expected to formally join the firm later this year, but did not provide other details.

Irvine’s exit is the latest in a recent spate of partner departures from Linklaters’ Hong Kong office. Jon Gray will join Davis Polk & Wardwell in late 2015 as managing partner of the Tokyo office, while capital markets lawyer David Ludwick and finance and energy specialist Thomas Ng are now with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

White & Case plucked three other former Linklater lawyers earlier this year: Peggy Wang is now that firm’s Asia head of private equity, Kyungseok Kim is with the newly opened Seoul office, and Pradyumna Mysoor is a Hong Kong local partner focusing on global M&A and India practices.

With Irvine’s hiring, Kirkland & Ellis will have 29 partners at its Hong Kong office.

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