AI Issue 10 2017

18 Acquisition International - October 2017 Fangda is one of the few premier law firms in Greater China. Founded in 1993, we were one of the first full service PRC law firms. Taking time to profile the firm, is the head of the Fangda’s Hong Kong antitrust team, Andrew Skudder. ounded in 1993, Fangda is one of the few premier law firms in Greater China who were also one of the first full service PRC law firms. Having over 450 lawyers spread across our Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong offices we are well placed to provide a seamless service in key locations where our clients tend to have their main business operations. At Fangda, we have been providing antitrust and competition law advice since 2008, when the PRC Anti-Monopoly Law was first enacted. In Hong Kong, we also advise on the Competition Ordinance, since it came into effect in 2015. In China/ Hong Kong, we are one of only a handful of firms with a dedicated antitrust team, and have one of the largest competition teams in the country. Our competition practice group contains over 20 full time competition law specialists and is still expanding. Also, our sizeable wider regulatory and litigation teams (with more than 15 partners and 80 lawyers) can also be relied on to provide additional manpower at short notice, as needed. This is critical to successfully handle large-scale antitrust audits or antitrust investigations, which are often highly resource intensive. Our antitrust team is also unique in that it includes lawyers who have previously worked for antitrust enforcement agencies in both China and Europe. About half of our team also have foreign qualifications, and have accumulated extensive competition law experience in Brussels, London and Washington D.C. before joining us. We maintain close working relationships with the three Chinese antitrust agencies, MOFCOM, the NDRC, and the SAIC. We have had a long history of dealing with each of these agencies, and are in frequent contact with them to advocate on behalf of our clients. Our antitrust specialists are regularly invited by the Chinese antitrust agencies to comment on draft legislation and guidelines before they are released for public consultation. Most recently, our antitrust team was invited by the NDRC, the SAIC Company: Fangda Partners Contact: Andrew Skudder Email: andrew.skudder@ fangdalaw.com Address: 26/F One Exchange Square 8 Connaught Place Hong Kong Website: www.fangdalaw.com Providing Antitrust and Competition Law Advice Since 2008 F 1709AI26 and MOFCOM to comment on a number of draft antitrust guidelines and regulations. Here at Fangda, we believe that this level of contact and involvement gives us an insight into the mindset, thought processes, and current priorities of the enforcement agencies. This unique perspective allows us to provide our clients with an un-paralleled analysis of the issues in situations where clear guidance is often lacking. As head of our Hong Kong antitrust team, I have recently published Halsbury’s Laws of Hong Kong: Competition Law, a definitive work for practitioners guiding them through the complexities of the recently promulgated HK Competition Ordinance and the guidelines and likely enforcement priorities of the HK authorities. Staying at the cutting edge of developments by authoring such works, gives an edge to our clients who are sure they are getting the latest and most sophisticated advice on their issues. During the last two years, on the merger control front, we have advised on 4 out of the 5 remedy cases cleared by MOFCOM. On the antitrust investigation side, we have advised clients on more than 30 cases involving cartels, abuses of dominance and vertical restraints, many of which have been ground-breaking cases. For example, we represented Höegh, a European shipping company in defending a cartel investigation by the NDRC, securing the first acquittal of its kind. Also, we advised Tetra Pak in the first dominance case concluded by the SAIC. In terms of antitrust litigation, we have also defended a number of multinational companies in some follow-on damages action cases and high-profile abuse of dominance cases. As a full-service firm, we also have very strong Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Arbitration, Capital Market, Private Equity, Corporate, Inward Investment, Banking, Infrastructure Development and Project Finance, Commercial Property, Telecommunications, Media and Internet, Intellectual Property, Employment and Insolvency and Restructuring departments.