Shanghai

	5/F HSBC Tower 1000 Lujiazui Ring Road Pudong New Area Shanghai 200120 PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA Tel: +86 21 6841 2828 Fax: +86 21 6841 2829 Email: Nigel Papi (view CV) Seamus Cornelius (view CV) Campbell Davidson (view CV) Career enquiries: view current vacancies		Street Map Local time View our experts China LawLinks

Allens Arthur Robinson has one of the largest and most experienced China teams of any Australian law firm. Allens became officially licensed by the Ministry of Justice in 1996 as one of the earliest international law firms to operate. The Shanghai office is an integral part of our Greater China practice and works closely with our offices in Beijing and Hong Kong.

We advise our clients on all forms of foreign investment in the PRC including: legal and strategic issues in negotiating joint ventures; practical approaches to dealing with the regulatory environment; investment, foreign exchange controls and repatriation of income and profits from China; and management of governance, environmental and other country-specific risks.

Our expertise and experience in foreign investment, general corporate and regulatory work in Beijing and Shanghai have seen us consistently ranked as a leading foreign law firm within the PRC by independent surveys: Allens is named a leading foreign firm in China in capital markets, corporate and commercial and foreign direct investment and patent and trade marks by Asia Pacific Legal 500 2006-07 and is recommended for real estate in China/Hong Kong by Chambers 2006.

We count among our clients several major Chinese companies looking to invest in Australia and other international markets.

Recent projects include:

• advising ANZ Bank on its proposed acquisition of a stake in Shanghai Country Commercial Bank Ltd., formerly Shanghai Rural Credit Co-operative Union, the largest financial services co-operative in the PRC. This transaction is currently pending PRC regulatory approval. We also advised ANZ on its US$120 million subscription for a 20 per cent stake in Tianjin City Commercial Bank, China's fourth largest city commercial bank by assets;
• lead legal adviser in China to Insurance Australia Group in relation to its proposed acquisition of an interest in China Pacific Property Insurance Co;
• advised Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in connection with its bid, as part of the Société Générale consortium, to acquire an interest in Guangdong Development Bank, one of the largest commercial lenders in Southern China;
• advising Foster's Group on the sale of its Shanghai brewing business and local Chinese beer brands;
• advising CDP Capital Real Estate Advisory Inc. (an investment arm of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Quebec government retirement fund) on the formation of its joint venture with Hong Kong-listed Shanghai Forte Land Co. to develop a major residential property project in Huishan District, Wuxi Provence;
• advising South China Resources PLC on a joint venture in China for exploration and development of mineral resources;
• advising Lion Nathan on the sale of its China operations to China Resources Breweries for US$154 million;
• advising Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi on the introduction of a new domestic/international multi-currency trade receivable finance product and a new multi-entity RMB funds pooling and cash management product;
• advising Zuellig & Woo - the large European pharmaceutical distributor - on a ground-breaking JV in China, the first foreign-invested pharmaceutical distribution project allowed by the Chinese authorities;
• acting for Brambles Industries Limited on projects in Beijing, Xian and Cheng Du which involved gaining control of the management of land fill sites, managing the gas emissions and converting the gas emissions to electricity for interconnection to the local mains electricity power supply; and
• advising BlueScope Steel (then BHP Steel) China on the establishment of plants, the restructuring of assets and continuing advice on maximising returns on investments through corporate reorganisation and reinvestment.

Language capabilities:

English, Mandarin, Shanghainese, Japanese, Cantonese