Bird soars to Sweden

The first merger between an English and Swedish firm is set for December following City firm Bird & Bird's announcement that it will marry up with Stockholm firm Gedda & Ekdahl.

Gedda & Ekdahl is a nine-partner commercial practice specialising in communications, IT, media, entertainment and e-commerce - all similar practice areas to those of Bird & Bird.

The firms have had close links for 20 years.

At the beginning of December the Swedish firm will be renamed Bird & Bird.

David Kerr, Bird & Bird's chief executive, said: 'Our future is an international one because of our client base.' He said Sweden came 'surprisingly high up the list' of those countries with media communications companies, which the firm is targeting.

Michael Frie, Gedda & Ekdahl's managing partner, who will become managing partner of the Stockholm office, said: 'Our objective is simple - to create Europe's premier law firm in these sectors.

The Bird & Bird brand already has a powerful resonance in Europe and allied with Gedda & Ekdahl's reputation and resources in Scandinavia, this merger will put us well on the road to realising our goal.'

Bird & Bird has offices in Paris and Brussels.

Mr Kerr said: 'We want to expand further and are looking at many other countries'.

He added that it was looking at Germany next.

Jeremy Fleming