Kirkland & Ellis has launched a restructuring practice in Asia with the hire of Hogan Lovells’ head of insolvency for the region, Neil McDonald, and another partner from the team Damien Coles.

The Chicago-headquartered firm, which already has a 100-lawyer restructuring team in the US and Europe, is expanding it’s capability into Asia as an add-on to its existing 22-partner corporate group and bolster relationships with regional private equity clients.