Clifford Chance has announced that private equity (PE) partner Simon Cooke will relocate from the company's London office to Hong Kong as the firm looks to strengthen its PE offering in the region.

Cooke will work closely with HK-based partner Andrew Whan in what is one of the region's largest PE teams. Whan says that Cooke's relocation is evidence that there are still deals to be struck for sophisticated PE investors in the region.

"Like our clients, we remain upbeat and believe that the private equity market in this region will continue to weather the global financial storm," said Whan, noting that investors have been recently setting their sights on the Asia PE market as well as public markets across the region.

Cooke, who spent an earlier part of his career at the firm's HK office, counts PE heavyweights Carlyle, Permira, Candover and KKR as regular clients. Last month the firm relocated Andrew Rolfe and Catherine Cook, both London-based real estate partners, to its Abu Dhabi office.