Professional notice
China
The competition team that was formerly at Broad & Bright moved to SUNLAND LAW FIRM in August 2019. Other practitioners are still quick to praise this team, led by Yao Feng, who is universally tipped as one of the best Chinese competition lawyers. The team comprises four partners, one counsel and at least 10 associates across the Beijing and Hong Kong offices. The team maintains an impressive client roster, which has historically included the likes of Google and Broadcom, in addition to a slew of recent clients.
The team handled more than 40 merger filings in 2019 and has been present on more than half of the most complex deals – those requiring conditions to secure the Chinese competition authority’s approval – in the past few years. LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group, retained the Sunland team in its €14.7 billion acquisition of Tiffany & Co. In the often-contentious semiconductor industry, the team acts for Kokusai in its sale to Applied Materials. Feng also acted for United Technologies in its merger with Rockwell Collins and Essilor in its tie-up with Luxottica – both deals that required filings and complex analysis in China.
Few Broad & Bright conduct matters were publicly known, and that trend has continued at Sunland. The team acts for clients in investigations by the SAMR’s central office and those conducted at the provincial level, including a client in the aerospace sector who is before the Beijing branch of the competition enforcer. The team had been involved in the auto parts investigation of the legacy National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), successfully securing a mitigated penalty for a confidential client. It also represented a global shipping company in the NDRC’s Liner Shipping probe, and a US telecommunications company in the enforcer’s first-ever commitments case.
Sunland Law Firm is a full-service law firm specializing in the practice of capital markets, intellectual property, international trade and competition, and corporate affairs. Working on a team basis, the firm makes the best use of the experience and expertise of its lawyers and provides comprehensive personalized legal services according to the clients’ requirements. Sunland International Trade and Competition team (the former Broad & Bright antitrust team) is one of the leading legal teams in antitrust practice in China.
Merger filings
Since August 1, 2008, MOFCOM/SAMR has cleared over 3,300 filings to date, out of which Sunland International Trade and Competition team has worked on around 400 cases, and many of them are high profile or significant cases. Sunland International Trade and Competition team is one of the domestic legal teams that has handled most cases in China.
In MOFCOM/SAMR’s conditional approvals, Sunland International Trade and Competition team has handled over 40% of the cases, including China’s first conditional approval, i.e. Inbev’s acquisition of Amnheuser-Busch.
Representative cases handled by Sunland International Trade and Competition team:
- In 2009, Sunland International Trade and Competition team represented Coca-Cola in its acquisition of Huiyuan, which is one of the most complicated filings in China and involved public concerns.
- In 2015, Sunland International Trade and Competition team assisted Seagate in successfully obtaining approval by MOFCOM to lift its “hold separate” restriction, which is the first case where the “hold separate” condition was completely released.
- Also in 2015, Sunland International Trade and Competition team represented NXP in its acquisition of Freescale, which is the first conditional approval of MOFCOM where the “upfront buyer” situation was involved in the divestment remedy.
- In 2017, Sunland International Trade and Competition team represented five out of seven cases that were conditionally approved by MOFCOM.
- In 2018, after the institutional reform in china, the first conditional clearance by SAMR was also represented by Sunland International Trade and Competition team.
- In 2018, Sunland International Trade and Competition team represented United Technologies in the United Technologies/Rockwell Collins case. This case was awarded “Merger Control Matter of the Year – Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa” at the GCR 9th Annual Awards Ceremony on March 26th, 2019, and it was the second time that Sunland International Trade and Competition team has won this important award since Seagate/Samsung in 2011.
- In 2019, Sunland International Trade and Competition team represented Aleris Corporation in the Novelis/Aleris case, which received its conditional approval on December 20, 2019.
- In 2020, SAMR has conditionally approved 4 cases to date, and Sunland International Trade and Competition team has worked on two of them, namely Infineon/Cypress Semiconductor (the largest deal in the semi-conductor industry in 2019) and Nvidia/Mellanox Technologies (the second largest deal in the semi-conductor industry in 2019).
- In 2020, IBM/Red Hat and GSK/Pfizer consumer health business on which Sunland International Trade and Competition team worked both won the GCR award of Merger Control Matter of the Year, which marks the third and fourth time that Sunland International Trade and Competition team receives this award.
Antitrsut investigations
Sunland International Trade and Competition team has also advised many clients in antitrust investigations, including representing clients in price-related investigations initiated by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and non-price related investigations led by the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) before the institutional reform in China. After the institutional reform, such investigations have been uniformly transferred to SAMR. Sunland International Trade and Competition team is currently participating in several investigations conducted by SAMR and its local counterparts.
In addition, Sunland International Trade and Competition team has extensive experience in advising international companies in compliance with the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law. Sunland International Trade and Competition Team has assisted clients in conducting in-depth internal antitrust audits on potential monopolistic conduct and has also provided periodic review/assessment of the daily operations of clients.
Most of our clients are leading Chinese and multi-national companies in various industries including semiconductors, automobile, luxury goods, chemicals, electronic, medical, consumer goods, information technology etc..
Website: www.sunlandlaw.com
Tel: +86 10 65958667
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]