Chinese companies invest outside their comfort zone

As the PRC government takes steps to make outbound activity easier, Chinese businesses are showing an increasing appetite for offshore assets. But no opportunity comes without risk, and there are many dangers overseas. The significant knowledge gap with regard to the regulatory and legal infrastructure in many key target jurisdictions is an important obstacle to overcome for Chinese companies.

The China Outbound Investment Summit sought to fill that gap by bringing together lawyers from countries including US, Australia and Brazil with in-house counsel, businesspeople and financial advisers from across China. The event was held in Shanghai on September 23, and attracted more than 120 participants. It was China Law & Practice's sixth annual summit, and was for the first time solely devoted to the area of outbound investment.