As Chinese investment into Europe and Latin America grows, Spanish firms, facing escalating competition from their UK and US rivals at home, have found China an increasingly attractive market for future growth.

Last month, Spanish giant Cuatrecasas completed the establishment of a significant presence in Shanghai, six months after it was granted a licence to open an office there.

The Cuatrecasas Shanghai office is headed by senior associate Omar Puertas, who has been based in Shanghai since the end of 2006 to manage the firm's development in China. According to Puertas, the aim of this new international office is to accompany clients in their expansion strategies while attracting Chinese investment to Europe and Latin America.

The firm has hired senior lawyer Jimmy Tsui, formerly a partner with China's second largest firm, Dacheng, to increase its knowledge of the country's market and legal system. Other efforts to reinforce its Shanghai offering to be taken by the firm include hiring two Chinese junior lawyers and relocating a lawyer from Spain to Shanghai.

Shortly after Cuatrecasas announced its plan to open in Shanghai last year, Ur¡a Men‚ndez, another leading Spain-based international firm, decided to add Beijing to its existing 15-office global network.

The Beijing office will be Ur¡a's first location in Asia and will be the first Iberian firm's representative office in Beijing - currently all Iberian firms operating in China are based in Shanghai.

"We feel that Shanghai - home of clients' operative divisions - is a proper location for those willing to provide operational legal support on an ongoing basis. Instead, Beijing, where government and business headquarters are located, is a more suitable location when it comes to inbound and outbound investment work," said Ur¡a partner Juan Mart¡n Perrotto (pictured), who will be heading Ur¡a Men‚ndez's office in Beijing.

Ur¡a Beijing office intends to leverage strength in Latin America for the benifit of Chinese investors. The new office will be staffed only by very senior Spanish lawyers experienced in investment work in Latin America and with close ties with that region's local firms.

"We see huge potential and synergies that may be generated by combining our Asian and Latin American practices," said Perrotto. He has 14 years' experience on legal practice in Argentina and Spain, working in financial transactions and M&A.

"We feel that current asset prices, combined with Chinese demand for natural resources, will turn Latin America into the main destination of Chinese foreign investments in the coming years," he said.

The new entrant to be is well aware of the competition it will face in the market, so it has adopted a strategy to operate from a Beijing office co-located with European "best friends", Slaughter and May and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, following the model established in its Brussels office. In addition, it will work closely with local firms to ensure strong legal representation for its European clients and keep market frictions to a minimum.