Allen & Overy has established presence on the ground in South Africa, by launching an office in Johannesburg.

Wim Dejonghe, Allen & Overy global managing partner, said: "Johannesburg has become a key hub for local and international banks, development institutions, institutional investors and funds looking at investment and finance opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“Building on the success of our launch in Casablanca, Johannesburg is a continuation of our carefully targeted investment in Africa and emerging markets more generally. It offers a fantastic opportunity to take our Africa platform to the next level,” he said.

The office was open on 20 October and it is anticipated it will grow to about 40 lawyers in 2015.

The Johannesburg office comprises a team of leading South African lawyers, led by partner Lionel Shawe and Michael Duncan, one of the City of London’s leading banking lawyers and former head of A&O’s banking practice, who will be relocating to Johannesburg.

Tim Scales, partner in A&O’s international projects, energy and infrastructure team, and head of Allen & Overy's Africa Group, said: "This opens an exciting new chapter for A&O’s Africa Group. This will give us a unique platform to pursue opportunities in the banking, finance, projects, energy, infrastructure and mining sectors both in South Africa and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

"We are seeing increasing interest in Africa from clients across our global network – this is the key driver for our launch. With the opening of our office in Johannesburg, we will now be able to offer clients a seamless service across sectors, combining a global presence and specialisation with a premium local team. This also provides our team in South Africa with access to an unrivalled international platform and the opportunity to advise companies that are world leaders on some of the most significant transactions in the region,” he added.