Good fortunes return

China Law & Practice can now reveal the official list of Finalists for the 2010 China Law & Practice Awards, which will be held at the JW Marriott in Beijing on September 16.

The prestigious fourth annual awards ceremony, hosted by China's most trusted legal resource, will showcase how innovative, high-quality legal advice has driven many of the region's most complex transactions, cases and disputes.

Following a thawing in equity markets in 2009, issuers and financial advisers have been kept frantically busy in 2010. In a similar vein, data released in March of this year by Thomson Reuters showed that announced M&A activity had risen 18% worldwide from the first quarter of 2009.

One explanation for this is the growing number of energy-focused takeovers in emerging markets, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) noting that China's demand for oil had jumped by 28% in January compared with the same month in 2009.

Unsurprisingly, there are numerous examples of Chinese outbound investments in commodity countries among the shortlist. And because of the increase in outbound investment and financing work, Chinese banks and energy corporates are now among the most coveted clients in the world.

Finally, on the projects front, law firms claim to have enjoyed a highly successful 12 months in terms of the quality of deals undertaken. And many of these have involved a number of major Chinese banks in the lender groups.

In addition to CLP's traditionally strong focus on transactional achievements, this year's Awards will also celebrate nine Firm categories, nine City Firm categories and four In-House categories.

Tables are already selling fast, so in order not to miss out please contact:

Bryce Leung on +852 2842 6937 or at
[email protected]

BeijingWest Industries – Delphi

Why: Chinese state-owned steel company Capital Iron & Steel Company (Shougang) and subsequently its joint venture company BeijingWest Industries successfully acquired the global suspension and brakes business of former General Motors' automobile parts subsidiary Delphi Corporation, which has been under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since 2005. Delphi's assets were located in multiple jurisdictions necessitating the involvement of local counsel from no fewer than nine other jurisdictions. This distressed acquisition had an extremely tight schedule for due diligence and negotiation of sale and purchase documentation. It is also the first deal involving a Chinese SOE's acquisition of US assets under the Obama administration that was granted CFIUS approval.