Fredrikson & Byron’s China practice has offices in Minneapolis and Shanghai, China’s largest commercial and financial center. We provide a broad range of services to foreign multinational corporations and Chinese companies in their business ventures in and out of China. We assist them in all aspects of setting up Chinese operations: establishment of joint ventures and other investment vehicles; mergers and acquisitions; facilitating agreements; locating business partners (buyers, sellers, suppliers); dealing with tax issues (import/export, duties); real estate transactions; employment and immigration matters; and intellectual property issues (including patents, trademarks and licensing).
In addition, our China team has experience assisting clients with training and issues involving compliance in China, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) as well as Chinese and other antibribery laws. In dealing with transactional due diligence, our review of FCPA issues keeps an eye toward litigation with a focus on deal closing. Our team includes both litigation knowledge and experience as well as FCPA experience on due diligence issues from a deal attorney’s perspective. We focus on keeping a consistent process in FCPA review that includes specific risk assessment for each acquisition target and necessary training for management both during and following the acquisition. Our team also assists clients with internal audits and investigations relating to compliance issues and enforcement.
We also offer our Chinese clients guidance on doing business in the United States. For example, we assist in setting up business operations in the United States, including real estate or land acquisition; drafting and negotiating contracts; purchasing assets or stock of U.S. companies; financing (through either private or public offerings); securing licensing agreements; employment issues (immigration, contracts, non-competes, union negotiations, training); dispute resolution; and intellectual property protection and strategy. The firm’s China team provides our clients unique resources that provide an edge in their U.S.-Chinese operations.
Attorneys in our offices practice across a variety of service areas, including corporate, employment, intellectual property, international, litigation, real estate, securities, immigration, and tax, across a broad industry spectrum, including automotive, agriculture, general manufacturing, energy, health care and insurance. We serve a broad range of clients, including multinational corporations, public companies, privately held businesses, entrepreneurs, government agencies, and family businesses. We serve clients doing business throughout the United States and internationally through our offices in China, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, and Mexico and provide valuable counsel and advice to our clients through our well-established worldwide network.