M&A and private equity expert Marcia Ellis has rejoined Morrison & Foerster at its Hong Kong office, after leaving the firm in 2008 to become the Asia chief legal officer at the D. E. Shaw Group.

Ellis specialises in cross-border M&As, private equity and debt financing, in addition to having experience in advising funds on the disposition of real estate assets and the establishment of real estate joint ventures.

Before joining the D. E. Shaw Group, Ellis advised the lead investor in Glorious Properties on the latter’s pre-IPO restructuring and subsequent $1.28 billion IPO in Hong Kong.

Ellis will work alongside Hong Kong-based partner Thomas Chou as well as Jeremy Hunt, who joined the firm from Allen & Overy last October.

Elsewhere in Asia, Morrison & Foerster added ex-Orrick partner Thomas Yunlong Man to its team in Beijing in September last year, and hired capital markets specialist Kenji Taneda as a partner in Tokyo this month.

Kanishk Verghese is North Asia journalist at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.

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