Clyde & Co first with Belgrade base to beat rush for Serbian privatisation work

BALKANS: office begins work next month as firm eyes political risk and export credit insurance

City firm Clyde & Co is spearheading an invasion of legal interest in the Balkans - becoming the first City firm to set up an office in Belgrade, as London rivals vie for a raft of privatisations recently announced by the Serbian government.Clyde & Co forged an association with Belgrade-based lawyers Radoje Stefanovic and professor Miodrag Trakovic in January, but the firm has now acquired office space in the Genex building in Belgrade - virtually the only business premises in the city - and hired a couple of local lawyers, Boris Boklaja and Selma Mujezonovic.The office will start work in September, though details of who will move there from the London team have yet to be finalised.Mark Harrison, a former Eversheds and Linklaters partner who set up the first foreign practice in Belgrade in 1998, said there is currently vigorous legal interest in the Serbian capital following the announcement by the government of a raft of forthcoming privatisations in the chemicals, car manufacture, aluminium and energy sectors.Mr Harrison said the consortia winning privatisation bids would have to 'show great commitment to Serbia' and should ideally have offices in Belgrade.One of Clyde & Co's specialist fields is insurance, and the firm is believed to be interested in political risk and export credit insurance in Serbia, though it is also likely to bid in the privatisations.

The firm was also involved in the region during the Milosevic era, when it advised on the regulatory framework for United Nations sanctions.Austrian firm CMS Strommer Reich-Rohrwig Karasek Hainz - part of City firm CMS Cameron McKenna's CMS network - has an office in Belgrade.Meanwhile, Linklaters - which acted for the Serbian government in creating privatisation regulations - will host a conference in Belgrade in September jointly with The Economist magazine, and Mr Harrison said it is likely to be well attended by UK law firms, keen to mingle with Belgrade decision-makers.Clyde & Co partner John Whittaker, a member of the firm's management board, said: 'It is a good time to be developing our corporate, commercial and international trade practice in this region, where substantial funds are now being allocated to infrastructure projects and the privatisation of key companies.'Jeremy Fleming