Advanced Micro Devices
Credit Suisse Group
General Electric Company
General Mills
International Data Group
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Merck & Co.
UBS AG
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Hong Kong
O'Melveny is recognized as one of the leading international law firms in Hong Kong, with a practice covering a broad range of industries, clients, and matters. We offer a unique combination of Hong Kong law, nearly 20 years of local practice experience. We also have a leading China practice.
We pride ourselves on the fact that our China practice operates as a single large integrated operation rather than as three separate offices. Client matters are staffed across offices depending on the expertise needed for the project and our staffing availability. Our China operations are also closely integrated with China practice groups located in our United States, Japanese, and European offices. We have more than 100 professionals in our China Practice, including 16 partners and a large group of talented counsel, associates and legal consultants with diverse backgrounds and experience. Unlike many other international law firms, we have chosen to locate most of our China practice attorneys and consultants on the ground in mainland China. Most of our lawyers in mainland China speak fluent Chinese and are experienced international lawyers, having practiced both inside and outside China. They are either Americans or other foreign nationals who have moved to China to make their legal careers, or native Chinese who have studied law abroad and returned to China to practice. Our legal consultants are graduates of some of the finest Chinese law schools. We have offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, the key commercial centers in China. Our Hong Kong office practices Hong Kong law and US law and serves many of our international financial institution, investment fund, and other clients operating in China and Southeast Asia. Our Shanghai office is the largest international law firm office in that city, and is our largest office in Asia. Our Beijing office, licensed in late 2002, is a substantial size and enjoys a vibrant practice.
Hong Kong continues to be one of the most important global financial centers and, with Tokyo, is a leading financial centre in Asia, attracting the vast majority of Chinese issuers seeking to raise foreign capital on overseas markets. O'Melveny was one of the first US law firms licensed to practice Hong Kong law. Our lawyers in Hong Kong include Hong Kong solicitors and attorneys licensed to practice in the United States, England, Australia, and Singapore. Almost all of our Hong Kong-based lawyers, in addition to being fluent English speakers, are fluent in Mandarin Chinese and, in several cases, Cantonese Chinese and are natives of Hong Kong, the P.R.C., the United States, the UK, Singapore, and Malaysia. In Hong Kong, we handle a diverse range of significant and complex local and international corporate transactions, including initial public offerings of securities in Hong Kong and the United States, mergers and acquisitions of private and publicly traded companies, private equity and venture capital investments, transactions involving distressed equity assets and non-performing debt, and transactions involving foreign direct investment in China. We also represent a number of Hong Kong-listed companies and advise them on compliance with Hong Kong law and regulations, in addition to assisting them with their business transactions. More recently, we have worked on several of the most significant and publicly best-known transactions involving information technology companies in China. We also worked on the first public auction of non-performing state bank loans in China to foreign purchasers. In that transaction, we represented a Morgan Stanley consortium in its acquisition of non-performing loans (NPLs) from China Huarong Asset Management Corporation with a book value of US$1.3 billion. This was the first international auction of a NPL portfolio in China and marked the opening gun for foreign investment in China's distressed asset sector and an important step in the reform of China's banking system. In addition, we have a leading Asia arbitration practice which is centered in Hong Kong.
Key Facts
- We have strong China Practice connections with each of our US, Japan, and European offices. These are lawyers who specialize in China-related work, facilitating global coverage for cross-border undertakings. Examples include our group of lawyers resident in Silicon Valley who handle corporate, IP, and securities litigation work for China-related companies, our Japanese bengoshi stationed in Shanghai to serve Japanese clients in China, and our English and Hong Kong solicitor in London advising Chinese clients on UK and European transactions.
- We maintain a substantial library of reference books, precedents, research memoranda, legal clipping and other materials on Chinese legal and economic developments, which we update on a continuous basis. Through our presence and contacts in China, we follow changes and developments in the regulatory and business environment that may affect our clients on a day-to-day basis.
- Our China offices regularly publish in-depth research reports on areas of current interest in Chinese law, entitled "Topics in Chinese Law", and a bulletin of recent Chinese laws and regulations entitled "The O'Melveny China Law and Policy Digest". Both are made available free of charge to our clients.
- Most of our lawyers are fluent in Mandarin and other Chinese dialects and have extensive experience in the Chinese legal and business environment.
- We are skilled in the reconciliation of Western and Chinese legal concepts and the preparation of dual-language documentation required for transactions in China. We are also able to deploy teams to conduct due diligence on Chinese language documents and to negotiate transactions in Chinese where appropriate. We have a dedicated team of professional translators experienced in legal terminology.
- We are able to produce Chinese and English language documents both in our offices and at the negotiating site and to transmit documents throughout our network of offices. This enables us to operate in the most remote locations throughout China efficiently and in real-time.
- Our team's years of experience in China have produced a rich accumulation of contacts in government and legal circles throughout the country, which can be tapped to meet the needs of our clients' business activities.
- To augment the resources of our China team, we maintain close working relationships with local law firms throughout China. These relationships enable us to provide rapid, comprehensive service and advice to our clients.
Related Services
- Business Tax
We help clients develop innovative tax solutions to optimize their tax position. We are one of the few international law firms with Chinese and international tax capability. A number of professionals in our China Practice concentrate on tax matters. In addition to corporate tax matters, our tax capabilities include significant non-corporate tax matters such as indirect taxes, VAT and business tax, customs, and individual income tax planning for high net worth individuals. As a result, we are able to provide clients with tax advice that synthesizes complicated foreign country and Chinese tax issues, including the interaction between preferential Chinese tax policies and foreign country rules for taxation of their residents' overseas operations. Typical issues involved include developing a net tax efficient investment structure, tax treaty planning, availability of foreign tax credits, obtaining deferral, and minimizing withholding taxes.
- China
- Entertainment, Sports and Media
We advise clients with respect to the development, financing, distribution and licensing of films and television programs in China and Hong Kong, and of Chinese films and television programs abroad. We have also advised leading regional television companies with their listings and private equity financings. We have advised international entertainment companies with respect to their cinema and audio-visual product manufacturing projects in China.
- Project and Infrastructure Finance and Development
- Intellectual Property and Technology
We represent a variety of hi-tech companies, both hardware and software, with respect to their legal matters in China. We are particularly familiar with the government incentives offered to hi-tech projects, and the special regulatory regimes and intellectual property protection measures that are applicable to such companies. We have counseled clients on numerous technology licensing transactions in China. We are familiar with the potential remedies available for infringement of intellectual property rights.
- International Arbitration
We have one of the leading dispute resolution practice in China, including investment and trade disputes. Attorneys in our China offices have served both as arbitrators and as counsel under the rules of all the leading international arbitration organizations and have represented foreign parties in numerous China-related arbitrations, including arbitrations before the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission. We frequently work with local counsel in litigation in the Chinese courts. We have also assisted both Chinese and foreign clients in several complex disputes that involved simultaneous, inter-related litigation or arbitration in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK, and the Caribbean.
- Real Estate
We represent a variety of developers, financiers, purchasers and managers with respect to real property projects in China. We have developed a particular expertise with respect to the acquisition of distressed real estate assets. We have represented lessors and lessees in a variety of lease contract negotiations.
O'Melveny & Myers LLP is a limited liability partnership organized and registered under the laws of the State of California. A list of the names of the partners and their professional qualifications is open to inspection at any of its offices. Our professionals in our London and Hong Kong offices practice through local entities --- O'Melveny & Myers LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in England (registered number OC307988) and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and O'Melveny & Myers, Solicitors in Hong Kong. Unless otherwise stated, lawyers in our offices in Japan, China and Europe are not solicitors or licensed as local lawyers in the jurisdiction in which their office is located.
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31st Floor, AIA Central
1 Connaught Road Central
Hong Kong
S.A.R.
Phone +852-3512-2300
Fax +852-2522-1760
Local Time: 11:38 PM
Local Date: 5/18/2013
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