City firm boosts insurance work with French merger

City firm boosts insurance work with French merger

City firm Clyde & Co is expanding its presence in France by merging with Honig Preel Mettetal Buffat Coulon (HPMBC), a 30-lawyer Paris firm with a branch office in Nantes.

Clyde & Co is merging its existing Paris office, which mainly deals with marine insurance, into HPMBC's, which specialises in non-marine insurance.

The new venture will be styled HPMBC Clyde & Co in France.

Its primary focus is insurance and related risks work, in particular aviation, marine, transportation, energy, product liability, construction and industrial risks.

Clyde & Co aims to increase work in these core areas and to develop its corporate and commercial capability.

Senior partner Michael Payton said the combination of the two firms' practices would make it the 'leading insurance practice in France'.

Gildas Rostain, head of the Clyde & Co office in Paris, added: 'We share the same ambitions and shall look at other opportunities in France as well as elsewhere in Europe.'