Norton Rose snubs Brazil for Turkey in global focus” />Norton Rose has refocused its international strategy to centre on emerging markets in the East.

The scheme, known as the New Horizons campaign, focuses on building geographically centred practices to service Turkey, Russia, India and China (TRIC) rather than Brazil, Russia, India and China, as favoured by others.

IT projects partner Mike Rebeiro explained: “Positioning ourselves strongly in Turkey is more important than Brazil due to its close links with the Middle East and Europe, but also we’re keen to develop inward and outward services.”

The New Horizons campaign works in tandem with the firm’s main strategy – Headlights. This overall tactic concentrates the firm’s work into five practice areas – corporate finance, energy and infrastructure, financial institutions, technology and transport.

“It’s the Headlight areas that we’re trying to grow in the TRIC markets,” said Rebeiro. “Our recent role on the BA debt facility, which was funded by Chinese banks including the Bank of China, shows exactly how Headlights and New Horizons work together.”

The push has also started paying off in Turkey, with Norton Rose bagging a position on Turkey’s biggest private equity transaction to date – the sale of the shareholders’ 97.6 per cent stake in shipping company UN Ro-Ro’s to US private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for £640m.

The firm has ramped up its China practice, which now has 150 lawyers, while in Russia Norton Rose is rapidly expanding, having recently taken on US firm Chadbourne & Parke partner Chris Owen and Baker Botts partner Andrei Yakovlev (The Lawyer, 22 October).

For India, Rebeiro said the firm has a number of corporate clients in the region, but the firm is reviewing the options ahead of liberalisation.