Ashurst has renewed its strategic alliance with China’s Guantao Law Firm for six years.

According to media reports, Ashurst is also considering a joint venture with Guantao in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, but the UK firm did not confirm these reports.

Ashurst formed the alliance in 2008 and first renewed it in May 2015 in Sydney, where Guantao has an office. The alliance focuses on legal work involving insolvency and restructuring, financial derivatives, intellectual property, energy and infrastructure, and corporate and M&A. 

Guantao is the twentieth-largest local firm in mainland China, with 424 lawyers, 110 of whom are partners, according to ALB’s Asia Top 50 rankings last year. The Beijing-based firm merged with Shanghai's Zhongmao Law Firm last April after a five-year alliance. 

Earlier this month, Ashurst entered into a formal law alliance in Singapore with ADTLaw, a local outfit that specialises in complex arbitration and civil litigation, corporate and M&A transactions, as well as banking and finance.