Our Hong Kong office was established in 1980 and works on client projects in Hong Kong, mainland China and across the Asia region. In mainland China, our Beijing office opened in 1985, followed by Shanghai, which opened in 1993; today, these two offices represent one of the largest Mainland presences of any international law firm. Our partners and lawyers in China are leaders in their field, with
many of our partners, in particular, able to base their advice upon decades of experience in China's markets. Keeping pace with a growth economy
China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in November 2001 accelerated the pace of change in the country’s economic and legal structures. Since our earliest days, our China practice has advised international corporations and financial institutions on the business opportunities and challenges offered by China’s rapidly evolving domestic markets. Today, we now work closely with China's own corporations, financial institutions and investors as they begin to number amongst the world's leading banks and international investors. In addition to the opportunities offered by the rapid development of mainland China, Hong Kong remains an important business and financial hub for both mainland China and the wider Asian region. Working on China's front-page deals
Named China Practice of the Year and International Law Firm of the Year at the IFLR Asia Awards in 2010, our teams have advised on some of the country's most high profile deals in recent times. In Hong Kong, we advised ING on the US$2 billion sale of its Asian and Swiss private banking assets to OCBC and Julius Baer, and on many of Hong Kong's most notable recent IPOs, including China Minsheng Bank's US$3.9 billion offering, the largest IPO on the HKEx in 2009. In mainland China, we advise domestic corporations and institutions – such as Chinalco on its proposed US$19.5 billion strategic partnership with the Rio Tinto group, which if completed would have been the largest outbound investment ever undertaken by a Chinese company, as well as the pioneering oil finance agreement between Russia and China, where we advised the funders on a US$15 billion loan to Rosneft for the pre-export financing of a long-term oil supply agreement with China, and an associated US$10 billion loan to Transneft for the construction of a cross-border pipeline from Russia to China to deliver the oil. We have also advised international investors into China, such as EDF on its joint venture two-reactor agreement with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company, and Airbus on a number of strategic projects in China, including representing the company on its framework agreement for the establishment of an A320 final assembly plant in Tianjin. We also advised on the China antitrust aspects of the InBevAnheuser, Pfizer/Wyeth and Kraft/Cadbury acquisitions. Legal areas in China
Banking and finance
Capital markets
Communications, media and technology
Derivatives and structured products
Employment
Intellectual property
Investment management
Inward investment and joint ventures
Joint ventures and other strategic investments
Litigation and dispute resolution
Mergers and acquisitions
Private equity
Projects, energy and infrastructure
Real estate
Regulatory
Restructuring and insolvency
Taxation
