Clydes ramps up expansion plans with Beijing, Australia launches targeted

Clyde & Co has added Beijing, Australia and Mexico to its list of international targets, as the insurance leader ploughs ahead with plans to expand in the US.

The firm is currently weighing up office launches in Beijing and Australia in a bid to take advantage of the booming Asia-Pacific market, with both the east and west coast of Australia under consideration.

While a launch is unlikely to happen before 2013, all options are being looked at, including a merger or greenfield operation with hires from the local market.

A Mexico launch is also under consideration, with Clydes understood to have spoken to a number of firms in the region, although this is thought to be lower down Clydes’ list of priorities than Beijing and Australia.

Clydes is also continuing with plans to expand its footprint in the US and Canada, with office launches in Houston and Calgary predicted for the last quarter of this year, as the firm looks to take advantage of energy work in the region.

Clydes has significantly expanded over the last year, merging with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert in November 2011 while also securing a tie-up with Canada’s Nicholl Paskell-Mede in September, which handed it offices in Toronto and Montreal.

Board member James Burns, who is responsible for the firm’s US strategy, said: “While we remain focused on integration following our very recent merger, we are also continuing to look at opportunities to expand both in our existing offices, and potentially through new openings.

“This may take the form of further openings in North America to build on the five offices we have there. Elsewhere, we are looking at a number of opportunities for expansion, both in markets in which we already operate and in new jurisdictions.”

The news comes as Clydes continues to build out its existing US offices in New York, New Jersey and San Francisco, with a new shipping partner joining in New York this month.

John Keough has joined Clydes from New York shipping and litigation firm Waesche Sheinbaum & O’Regan, where he held the role of president. The firm closed at the end of last year following 
his departure.

By Suzi Ring