Professional notice
China
BROAD & BRIGHT competition practice head Yao Feng – one of the fi rm’s founders – is universally tipped as one of the best Chinese competition lawyers. The senior counsel has built a thriving practice with particular strengths in deal work. The 14-year-old fi rm welcomed partner Shipo Xie to the antitrust practice in late 2017, and boasts a client roster featuring the likes of Google, private equity shops KKR and Carlyle, NXP and semiconductor companies Broadcom and MediaTek.
The Chinese aspects of multibillion-dollar global deals are Broad & Bright’s clear forte. In 2017, it represented fi ve of the seven deals that were conditionally approved by the Ministry of Commerce and in 2018, handled the fi rst conditional clearance by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) – China’s newly consolidated antitrust agency. Yao Feng was Chinese counsel to Essilor in the lens maker’s vertical tie-up with eyeglass frames manufacturer Luxott ica, which the SAMR cleared in July 2018 with behavioural remedies. Few Broad & Bright conduct matt ers are publicly known. However, the team had been involved in the National Development and Reform Commission’s auto parts investigation, successfully bagging a mitigated penalty for a confi dential client. It also represented a global shipping company in the same enforcer’s liner shipping probe, and a US telecommunications company in the NDRC’s fi rst-ever commitments case.
Broad & Bright, founded in 2004, is a full-service Chinese law firm providing a broad range of specialised legal services in multiple practice areas for domestic and international clients, Among the various practice areas, Broad & Bright is one of the leading law firms in antitrust law practice in China.
The antitrust team of Broad & Bright has extensive and expertise in the competition law practice, including merger control review, cartel investigation, antirust compliance and counselling. The quality service has won the recognition by the clients and the legal society. It has been awarded by prestigious legal ranking publications such as Chambers, Global Competition Review, China Business Law Journal and Asian Law & Practice.
Ms Feng Yao is one of the founding members of Broad & Bright (2004–) and she is also the head of BB’s antitrust team. She graduated from Jilin University Law School, Jilin, China with an LLB, and from Columbia Law School in New York with an LLM. Upon graduation from Jilin University, she worked in MOFTEC (now the Ministry of Commerce) as governmental counsel and later worked in the Washington, DC Office of Covington & Burling until 2003.
Experience in anti-monopoly practice
Since 1 August 2008, MOFCOM has cleared over 2,000 transactions to date, of which Broad & Bright has represented over 290 filings, many of which are high-profile or significant cases. Broad & Bright is one of the local firms handling most of the cases. Broad & Bright is experienced and has the expertise in handling sensitive and complicated cases. In MOFCOM/SAMR’s 37 conditional approvals so far, Broad & Bright handled almost half of the cases, including China’s first conditional approval of Inbev’s acquisition of Amnheuser-Busch. In 2009, Broad & Bright represented Coca-Cola in its acquisition of Huiyuan, one of the most complicated filings in China which involved political concerns. In 2015, Broad & Bright assisted Seagate in successfully obtaining approval by MOFCOM to lift its “hold separate” restriction, the first case where the “hold separate” conditions were completely released. In the same year, Broad & Bright represented NXP in its acquisition of Freescale, the first conditional approval of MOFCOM where the “upfront buyer” situation was involved in the divestment remedy. In 2017, Broad & Bright represented five of the seven cases that were conditionally approved by MOFCOM. In 2018, after the institutional reform in China, the first conditional clearance by SAMR (the new antitrust agency) was also represented by Broad & Bright.
Broad & Bright has also advised many clients on various antitrust issues, including cartel investigations and other behavioral investigations by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). In addition, Broad & Bright has extensive experience in advising international companies in compliance with the AML.
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China
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