Foreign Direct Investment

(Foreign investors set up company, Representative Office in China)

Max Wu has substantial expertise in assisting multinational companies with respect to establishing their business operations in China, setting up representative offices, wholly foreign-owned enterprises, or various types of joint-ventures. Examples of industries and areas include trade, finance, construction, materials, machinery, chemical, energy, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, automotive, integrated circuit, electronic products, communication, media, internet, logistics, transportation, and civil infrastructure.

Like other multinational or cross-border transactions, forming a Sino-foreign joint venture can be a delicate matter. The prospective parties typically enter into the transaction with drastically different standards, expectations and levels of sophistication. Without proper advisors to bridge the gap, it canbe burdensome for the parties to understand why certain seemingly obvious issues can become obstacles. Multiple languages are usually required, and without a combination of language skills, bi-cultural understanding, transactional experience, legal precision, and attention to detail, the parties can easily settle for sub-quality bilingual project documents that fail to clearly and accurately describe their intentions and fulfill their objectives. Max Wu understands that in a joint venture, our clients “win” not by negotiating a particular clause to the limit, but by closing the transaction and proceeding with their business plan without delay. Often, the parties rely upon us to resolve misunderstandings and create mutually acceptable solutions.

In this context, Max Wu seeks to provide support to investment bankers/financial advisors from all parties involved for completing transactions and finalizing legal documents.

Service areas include the following:

◆ design investment and corporate governance structures;

◆ formulate and implement strategic planning to optimize tax consequences;

◆ due diligence of business partners;

◆ negotiate and draft legal documents, such as project proposals, feasibility studies, joint venture contracts, articles of associates, and ancillary contracts;

◆ prepare director resolutions, meeting minutes and other corporate establishment documents;

◆ negotiate and draft business agreements related to contributed investments both in-kind and in cash;

◆ transfer shares, re-organization and liquidation of foreign-invested enterprises;

◆ advise on company registration in China.

Mr.Wu also provides legal services and on-going support after the entity is established, by serving as retained legal advisers, attending board meetings, providing support to expatriates, advising on all of the new company’s on-shore contracts, and keeping clients up to date with changes in China’s evolving economic and legal ecosystems.