King & Spalding has added a new partner to its Singapore office to bolster its corporate practice.

Lee Taylor joins the firm after 20 years at Clifford Chance where he served as a corporate and M&A partner.

UK-qualified Taylor focuses on a wide range of public M&A and takeovers as well as being involved in private equity matters. His major highlights include advising Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby on its proposed $1.74 billion acquisition of New Britain Palm Oil (NBPOL), and advising Mitsubishi Corp on its acquisition of a 20% stake in Olam International for $1.1 billion.

King & Spalding is looking to move beyond its core strengths of arbitration and energy and diversify into areas such as M&A, private equity, alternative capital, and investigations to shore up its South East Asian platform.

The firm has over 1000 lawyers across 20 offices globally in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Americas, and Middle East.