Tencent interview: A dynamic spirit – Guangdong Focus

What is your role at Tencent and what is the structure of your legal team

I head the legal M&A team, which provides legal support related to acquisitions, investments and exits – basically all the M&A work worldwide. Our team has seven lawyers, including those in Shenzhen, Shanghai and the US.

What is a typical day like for you at Tencent What are the biggest challenges of your job

I can't say that there is a typical day but at any given moment we may have more than dozens of active deals. The company has deals constantly coming in and going out, so I need to work through a lot of emails which takes up a lot of my time. I will get more closely involved for particularly complex issues of deals that require hands-on management. Larger strategic deals can get more intense.

What are the biggest recent legal developments that have affected your work

Of all our investments worldwide, the majority is still in the China market. The development of PRC laws and regulations is therefore important to us. We follow them closely, for example, studying the Anti-monopoly Law is crucial as we need to know how the merger control and review process works. We also keep a watch on other developments, such as the recent SAFE regulations that affect our cross-border investments. We also remain up to date with the general rules and regulations of our industry, specifically internet and new media such as online streaming of TV and movies. The developments in data privacy laws are always on our radar too.

What are some specific challenges to M&A What has the company's M&A experience been like and how do you see the M&A landscape changing

There are a multitude of challenges – in general, the internet industry in China is one of the more healthy and competitive industries where private entrepreneurship and creative ideas keep it really dynamic. There are many smart people and new companies that pop up as well as new ideas and inventions that get put into practice. It's absolutely necessary to monitor the industry closely. As we grow in size, we do more and more deals. The number of deals we do alone is a challenging factor for us. But we have handled that successfully so far. There are always legal developments, though sometimes the laws and regulations could be more clear cut and allow private companies like us to do more deals. On the international front, we deal with lots of companies entering new markets all over the world and encounter new jurisdictions with regulations different to what we are accustomed to. Internet companies tend to have a universal footprint since the internet is a global community, compared with traditional industries.

We have witnessed crazy growth. Our legal team was much smaller when I first joined three years ago. We weren't doing as many deals as we are doing now and the deals are increasing in size and being publicised in the press. And this trend is not exclusive to Tencent, as we see that, in general, Chinese companies are becoming more active in M&A worldwide.

What are some recent regional regulations that have affected Tencent's operation or investments

The Qianhai special economic zone in Shenzhen has a number of encouraging policies. It is where we and other partners have set up one of the first private banks approved in China, for example. We are also looking at lots of other opportunities there and designing multiple projects to take advantage of that area. Qianhai's policies are attractive to us.

What are the benefits of having the company's headquarters in Shenzhen as opposed to elsewhere in China

Shenzhen has an advantage in that it is very entrepreneurial. There are many internet companies and smart people. It is very close to the manufacturing base as well as to Hong Kong. It is the ideal location for entrepreneurship as there is much talent in software and hardware engineering. It is where our company grew up.

The city is extremely service oriented and provides a contrast to Shanghai and Beijing. The feel of the city is more entrepreneurial than commercial and you can feel this energy in the air. It's really China's modern city.