Asia Practice

Fredrikson’s Asia practice is led by its offices in Minneapolis and Shanghai, which is the commercial and financial center of China. We provide a broad range of services to multinational corporations in Asia and to our Asian clients in North America and Europe. We assist our clients in all aspects of setting up their overseas operations: establishing 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).

For example, our Shanghai-based team has extensive experience assisting multinational clients with training and compliance issues in Asia, 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 on protecting against litigation with a focus on deal closing. Our team has 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 offer our Chinese clients guidance on doing business in North America. For example, we assist them 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. Our Shanghai team offers our Chinese clients unique resources that give them 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; and 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 Shanghai, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, and Mexico and provide valuable counsel and advice to our clients through our well-established worldwide network.

• Represented U.S. manufacturer of animal feed additives in establishment of Chinese and other offshore entities.
• Advised multinational investment firm on the acquisition, restructuring and sale of businesses located in Singapore, Macao, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
• Assisted automotive manufacturer in setup of new entity with Greenfield manufacturing facility in China and negotiated construction, project management and design agreements relating to construction of facilities.
• Advised Chinese manufacturer on the sale of their bathroom fixtures factory in Vietnam.
• Advised a multinational Fortune 500 company about its strategy to expand in China and other parts of Asia as part of a year-long strategic overhaul and review of its Asia strategy, including advice on existing manufacturing operations, potential mergers and acquisitions, industry competition, customer concerns and branding.
• Advised Chinese companies on the acquisition of companies located in Switzerland, Italy, France and Germany.
• Advised a large manufacturer of agricultural products relative to importation and labeling of genetically modified organism (GMO) and non-GMO products into China and reversing a Shanghai Customs determination that the client’s products all required obligatory GMO labeling.
• Advised multinational investment firm on their sale of a German business to a buyer located in Singapore.
• Provided multinational agribusiness company and related entities, with a comprehensive introduction and strategic program relating to all aspects of agribusiness in China. Provided and arranged tours and research concerning the industry and organized meetings and briefings with U.S. and Chinese government officials, American-owned Chinese subsidiaries, Chinese government-owned and privately owned enterprises, and U.S.- and Chinese-based industry specialists.
• Advised US-based manufacturer on the assessment and remediation of environmental issues found at their factory in China.
• Conducted an investigation into kickbacks, trade secrets and non-competition for a U.S. company, culminating in the termination of numerous employees.
• Conducted full investigation of FCPA and compliance issues for a U.S. company in the health-care industry.
• Conducted full investigation of FCPA and compliance issues for U.S.-based Fortune 100 corporation in China.
• Conducted antitrust compliance training for a Fortune 500 corporation’s operating facilities in Changzhou, China: “Know Your Antitrust—Compliance with the Antitrust Law of the US, China, Europe, Japan and Korea.”
• Conducted FCPA due diligence in China, Vietnam and India as well as transactions in the Middle East and Europe. The due diligence focuses on conduct, including gifts or bribes to public officials, and on the books and records side of the FCPA, which addresses how companies must maintain their accounting records.
• Represented a leading U.S. company in gas industry in its acquisition of 80 percent equity interest of a Chinese state-owned company, structuring the acquisitions, performing due diligence, drafting and negotiating documentation, processing government filings and communicating with government agencies concerned.
• Represent an international auto parts company on general corporate transactions and various legal issues for its subsidiaries in China. Acted as the corporate secretary and secretary of the board of the company’s subsidiaries in China.
• Advised on the process and requirements in a U.S. company’s sales of its shares in two Hong Kong companies.
• Assisted a U.S. client in its acquisition of a majority interest of a Taiwanese-owned Chinese manufacturing company with related assets/ownership in Mauritius, Samoa and the British Virgin Islands, which ultimately resulted in establishment of manufacturing facilities in Vietnam.
• Coordinated the restructure in Asia of a leading U.S. paper and packaging company, involving the establishment of a holding company in Singapore and acquisition of targeted companies in Thailand and Malaysia.

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