China

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Exploring Chinese investment opportunities in Europe  

05/05/2010 Our Shanghai office hosts Sino-French seminar

We recently hosted a business seminar in Shanghai in conjunction with the Invest in France Agency further to the recent reports on the forging of closer Sino-French political ties. The opportunity to host the event came about thanks to the close working relationships that have been developed by Antoine Martin, Head of Corporate in Paris, and UK based solicitor Sharon Shi with both the Invest in France Agency and CCPIT (China Council For The Promotion Of International Trade).

The seminar discussed the opportunities presented by investing in the EU, particularly in relation to investment in France as Chinese investors look to invest outside of China. According to Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) data, in the first two months of 2010, Chinese investors set up 693 overseas enterprises in 89 foreign countries and jurisdictions amounting to a total investment of US$4.66 billion.

Pascal Gondrand, Chief Representative to Greater China, was the keynote speaker at the event which attracted over 50 attendees. A number of Chinese investors who are considering investing in Europe and France attended the seminar. We are in discussions with a number of the attendees in relation to possible instructions and introductions.

Shanghai Managing Director Peter Corne, Antoine Martin, and Sharon Shi presented at the event in relation to Chinese investment in Europe and France. The presentation was primarily in Chinese, with Sharon generously stepping in to interpret for Antoine. Peter Corne comments:

"It was indeed an honour to present to the membership of CCPIT together with Invest in France, and we were greatly encouraged by the depth of interest by its members in investing in Europe. It was a good example of the way Eversheds is working seamlessly across jurisdictions to generate opportunities, with London, Paris and Shanghai all having a hand in the seminar's success."

If you have a client or contact who may be interested in exploring business opportunities in China or if you would like to find out more about the expertise and work of our China Business Group, please contact Shanghai Managing Director Peter Corne.

In addition, if any of you or your clients would like to discuss potential investment in China and/or outbound investment by Chinese entities, then please do get in touch to see how we can assist.

We win two business accolades in China

31/03/2010 Awards for our renewable energy and corporate groups

Our Shanghai office has gained further recognition in the Asian marketplace for its corporate and renewable energy work in the region.

The team received an honourable mention in Asian-Counsel's Deals of the Year 2009 for its work on Microsoft's equity investment in Tata Consulting Services (China) Limited, one of the few privately held foreign invested companies in the PRC. We acted for Tata in the deal which saw MS CJV Investment Corporation, a subsidiary of Microsoft, being issued shares amounting to a 10 per cent stake of the company after negotiations lasting more than a year. We were among the top 30 winning deals, selected out of over 800 submissions by firms across Asia and the Middle East.

Our office also scooped an award at the Environmental Business Journal's (EBJ) 2009 Business Achievement Awards. We picked up the accolade in the area of Consulting and Business Firms: New Practice Areas for establishing a renewable energy practice as one of our major practice areas in China.

Peter Corne, managing partner of our Shanghai office, commented:

"We have strong corporate and renewable energy practices in China and these awards are testament to the added value that we have been bringing to our clients through our ability to navigate our way through highly regulated business environments. The TCS China deal was one of the first of its kind for this category of company in China, and while the renewables sector is full of promise and opportunity, it involves areas of high sensitivity."

Future of Representative Offices in China

22/03/2010 Full house at a European Union Chamber of Commerce's event in Shanghai

Carl Hinze, an associate from our Shanghai office, recently co-presented with Yun Wei of Salans LLP at a ground-breaking seminar at a European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC) on the future of Representative Offices in China.

Carl focused on the legal and regulatory aspects of the recent changes to the situation facing Rep offices in China, including the introduction of a limit of four representatives, the reduction of the validity period of a Rep Office's registration certificate from three years to one year, the introduction of a two year establishment requirement for foreign entities wanting to set up a Rep Office in China, and the clear indication that the Chinese authorities will carry out increased inspections and supervision of Rep Office activities.

The seminar attracted the largest turn-out for an EUCCC event in Shanghai, indicating that many foreign businesses are particularly concerned about the state of Rep office regulation in China. Following his presentation, Carl received several enquiries from attendees wanting to know how to de-register their Rep offices and convert them into formal legal entities.

Honours for our green work in China

21/11/2009 

Our Shanghai office has narrowly missed out on the Green Award at the Britcham British Business Awards.  The awards, held by the British Chamber of Commerce, recognise and reward champions of British business in China.  We were the only law firm nominated in any of the categories and were up against very established players in the field, namely sustainability designers and engineering firm Arup, the tertiary institution pioneering educational degrees and research in sustainability, the University of Nottingham, sustainable building advisor CBRE, and HSBC, which ultimately won the award for its incorporation of sustainability in its lending qualification criteria. 

We were nominated for the award for our work in promoting sustainability and emissions reduction by our work in helping project developers build  out their renewables platforms, assisting technology providers to propagate and implement their solutions in China, as well as providing pro bono legal assistance to non-profit organisations such as the Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy and our own initiatives to reduce energy and implement sound environmental practices in our Shanghai office.  We have built up our renewable energy and sustainable practice in China to be one of our major practice areas and have assisted clients to execute projects involving technologies such as biofuels, small hydro, geothermal, and energy efficiency in industry.  The judges (lead by the CSR director at DLA) lavished praise on our practice for setting a good example for other law firms in China to follow.  It is the first environmental award the office has been nominated for and is recognition of the expertise and dedication we have to the sector, and follows on the heels of the practice again being recognised for its pioneering work in the area of anti trust in China.

Peter Corne, managing director, Shanghai, comments:

“We are delighted to be acknowledged for our efforts in this sector by being named as one of the finalists for the Green Award.  When we entered China we at once recognised that we had a historical opportunity and a responsibility to apply our international renewable energy skill set to facilitate and promote  solutions in China.  Our practice is particularly dedicated to the continuing development of green and clean energy, with our lawyers not only having substantial transactional experience and in-depth, industry-specific knowledge but also frequently speaking and hosting panels at energy-related seminars and conferences throughout China as well as supporting pro-bono green initiatives. To be acknowledged in this way by Britcham encourages us to further intensify our efforts to help China navigate the tortuous road to sustainability.”

Peter Corne, Adam Collinson , Steve Yu, and Wei Zhang represented the firm on the awards night and were joined by some big players in the green energy and sustainability sector - Andrew Aldridge from Climate Change Capital, Ken Dewoskin of Deloitte, Tiantian Zhang from Anglo American, Hirotsugu Matoba from Mitsui & Co Ltd, and Andre Loesekrug-Pietri from CEL Partners, head of the European China Chamber of Commerce's Private Equity Working Group.

China tops Asian Counsel awards 

01/09/2009 

Our Shanghai office has been named Law Firm of the Year for its antitrust and competition work in China by the Asian Counsel for the second successive year.

The awards are determined by the Representing Corporate Asia Survey of in-house counsel, sent to around 15,000 lawyers in Asia and the Middle East. It identifies the preferred firms by in-house lawyers in specific practice areas across the regions.

Peter Corne, managing partner for Shanghai, comments:

"We are very proud to have won this award for the second year running. We continue to take an innovative approach to providing advice and have spearheaded work in anti-trust and competition law in China. We have strong expertise in Asia and our China practice continues to grow on its successes in a way that is relevant to and anticipates the needs of our clients.

"Our recent successes include advising Fortune 500 companies in the USA, leading FTSE 100 companies in the UK, and leading companies in Europe and Japan on delicate anti-trust matters that go to the heart of how these businesses are structured in China"

The complete list of Firms of the Year will be published in the July-August 2009 issue of Asian-Counsel within the Special Report. Winning firms will also be highlighted in the Asian In-House Handbook 2010, the guide for in-house lawyers which is circulated via the In-House Congress circuit of events (Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Seoul, Jakarta, Mumbai, Bangkok and Dubai), and through the Asian-Counsel Weekly Briefing.