Outbound Investment
Since our establishment, we have cemented our leading position among Chinese domestic law firms, uniquely situating ourselves in the market by focusing on cross-border legal services. Driven by the foreign investment boom brought about by the reform and opening-up policy in China as well as our domestic clients “going global,” we have augmented our domestic expertise with unparalleled fluency in international business transactions. We follow a service mode of forging alliances among giants, where we establish strong bonds with leading law firms worldwide. Our clients benefit from our international expertise, our partnerships with leading law firms in other jurisdictions, and our first-rate cross-border legal services.
Our Team
Outbound investment is a multidisciplinary sector, with each investment project requiring the bespoke compilation of experts in different legal sectors. Reflecting the diversity of the projects we advise on, our outbound investment team is a multidisciplinary group composed of more than 20 partners and associates specializing in M&A, capital markets and other relevant disciplines. Each member of our team has graduated from a top law school in China or abroad and most of our attorneys have practiced at European and/or U.S. law firms. Our lawyers are experts in the laws and business practices guiding cross-border transactions, and are fluent in Chinese, English and/or Japanese, and provide a full range of legal services.
Scope of Core Services
Assembling and managing legal teams in various jurisdictions;
Completing regulatory approvals, filings and registrations in China;
Advising Chinese companies on legal and regulatory requirements in conjunction with local lawyers;
Structuring project financing;
Conducting and overseeing legal due diligence on target companies;
Drafting, revising and negotiating investment agreements, finance agreements and other transaction documents;
Working with local lawyers to complete foreign investment reviews, merger control filings and national security reviews (where necessary);
Providing translation services;
Closing transactions and completing post-closing matters.
Expert in Coordination
Due to the differences in language, culture and customs, some misunderstandings are bound to occur in direct communications between Chinese enterprises and foreign lawyers. We have years of experience and knowledge in cross-border investment and financing services, a thorough understanding of local and international cultures and expertise in foreign languages. Our outbound investment team has led foreign lawyers and undertaken seamless communication with our clients. This has enabled our clients to fully comprehend the legal issues and risks involved in their projects and enabled us to reflect in transaction documents the true commercial intent of each client.
Recent Representative Cases
We represented JOINN Laboratories (China) Co., Ltd. in its acquisition of 100% equity interest in Biomedical Research Models, Inc., a US company. We helped design the transaction plan, conducted comprehensive due diligence investigations, drafted and negotiated all the transaction documents, and prepared for and effectuated closing. All formalities for closing were completed on December 10, 2019, EST.
We represented Isvision (Hangzhou) Technology Co., Ltd. in its acquisition of the control of EHR, a leading industrial vision enterprise in Germany. In this project, we helped design the transaction structure, negotiated and revised the transaction documents, prepared the relevant documents for outbound investment filing formalities, coordinated with different intermediaries and banks to push forward the transaction, and eventually effectuated closing. The closing took place at the beginning of 2020.
We represented China Energy Engineering Group Planning and Engineering Co., Ltd. in its acquisition of all shares in GHESA Ingeniería y Tecnología, S.A. and Empresarios Agrupados Internacional, S.A., both being Spanish companies. We provided comprehensive legal services to the client, including without limitation, participating in the design of the investment structure, providing advice under PRC and foreign laws and coordinating with foreign law firms to conduct due diligence investigation and other legal work. We were involved in drafting, reviewing and revising the merger & acquisition transaction documents and participated in negotiations. We reviewed and amended the bank financing documents and participated in negotiations, assisted in preparing documents for approval/filing in the PRC, assisted in completing the closing, and provided legal services with respect to post-investment integration. The closing took place in late January 2020.
We represented Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. in its subscription for the convertible preferred shares of GNC Holdings, Inc., an NYSE listed company. We reviewed the deal documents and announcements for the client, helped prepare regulatory approval documents and helped in closing. The closing took place on February 13, 2019.
We represented Qumei Furniture Co., Ltd., an A-share listed company supported by Huatai Zijin Investment Co., Ltd., in its acquisition through the tender offer of 100% shares in Ekornes ASA, a public company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, Norway.
