Allens Arthur Robinson

About this office:

Our lawyers practice local and international law with a focus on banking and financial services; investment funds, insurance and insurance; litigation and regulatory investigations; corporate and commercial (including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity); real estate and infrastructure projects; communications, media and technology; and intellectual property. The Hong Kong office works as a single integrated unit with our Shanghai and Beijing offices to provide a seamless service to our clients on China-related projects.

Our credentials, expertise and experience have seen us consistently ranked as a leading foreign law firm in Hong Kong and the PRC by independent surveys.

A leading firm in China/Hong Kong in Banking & Finance, Corporate/M&A, Investment Funds, Insurance, Real Estate and Projects, Infrastructure & Energy.

Chambers Asia 2009

One of the top ten legal advisers for China & Hong Kong in announced M&A deals

Bloomberg M&A League Tables, first half 2008

A leading firm Asia wide in Projects, Infrastructure & Energy, Investment Funds

Chambers Asia 2009

Recent projects include:

- having advised PMI on the sale of PMI Mortgage Insurance Asia Limited, a licensed mortgage reinsurer in Hong Kong, to QBE Insurance Group Limited;

- having represented ANZ, Natixis and Rabobank International, which provided a HK$3.2 billion senior secured acquisition financing facility to enable a subsidiary of Pioneer Iron & Steel Group Limited to launch a hostile takeover bid for Hong Kong main-board-listed China Oriental Group;

- having represented Foxhill Investments Limited on the borrowing of HK$1.86 billion and HK$2 billion respectively for the refinancing of existing facilities in relation to real property development transactions and other general corporate purposes;

- having acted for Goodman Group on a series of transferable loan facilities arranged by Citibank and then HSBC providing a total of HK$1.9 billion in property acquisition financing and the HK$6.2 billion senior and subordinated facilities to refinance the earlier facilities on the establishment of the Goodman Hong Kong Logistics Fund;

- having advised JMI International on the sale of their garment-related assets and businesses to Li & Fung. Li & Fung are a well known Hong Kong company with three distinct businesses including export trading arm and distribution;

- assisted a development company and a leading financial institution with the establishment of a funds management joint venture, and acted for the joint venture on all aspects of the establishment of a Bermuda-based private equity fund, which was established to invest in real estate projects through offshore corporate structures;

- having represented the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong in relation to a proposed PRC joint venture, avoiding a liability of HK$140 million;

- advising Macquarie's Korea Opportunities Fund in relation to its acquisition of a majority interest in a Taiwanese cable television and broadband company;

- having advised Goodman Group on the acquisition of interest held by Macquarie Bank Limited in Macquarie Goodman Hong Kong Logistics Fund, Macquarie Goodman Asia Limited and two real estate projects holding companies;

- advising financial services clients, in particular those with insurance broking licenses, on potential criminal exposure arising from remuneration structures, commission agreements and other issues being considered by the Hong Kong Department of Justice and Independent Commission Against Corruption;

- advising the insurers of numerous Hong Kong banks, who have been served with search warrants as part of an investigation by the Commercial Crime Bureau into criminal breaches of the Securities and Futures Ordinance arising out of the sale of mini bonds financial products;

- having represented Optiver, a global securities and derivatives market maker, on the establishment of its business in Hong Kong and its application for relevant licenses with the SFC;

- acting in class actions brought against Hong Kong and mainland Chinese companies listed in the US. These proceedings are being conducted in the US federal courts (class actions) and US state courts (derivative actions);

- advising Bank of China on directors' and officers' insurance coverage in connection with the landmark US$11 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong;

- advising Schneider Electric on the formation of a major equity joint venture in China with Delixi Group Co Ltd, one of China's leaders in electrical distribution, to manufacture, market and distribute electrical products in the PRC and globally;

- advising Amcor on its US$105 million acquisition of a controlling interest in Hong Kong-listed company Vision Grande (Holdings) Limited, a packaging products company which has significant assets and operations in the PRC; and

- advising on a range of trade finance issues in Hong Kong and the PRC, for borrowers and banks, including ANZ, Westpac, Standard Chartered, Société Générale, Fortis, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG and DBS.

Increasingly we are working with Chinese companies interested in entering the Australian market. Our team comprises Australian and Chinese bilingual lawyers, who have hands-on experience working in both countries and are well versed in the issues facing their investors.