Bloomberg reveal that US firm Milbank is? to Add Lawyers in Beijing, Hong Kong as? Chinese Brazil Acquisitions Climb
They report that the firm who recently advised China?s State Grid Corp. on its $1.7 billion acquisition of Brazilian power lines, said it will add 10 lawyers to its 15 existing lawyers iin Beijing and Hong Kong over the next year.
Will they have to form a party cell !
Bloomberg report
Full report at? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-23/milbank-to-add-ten-beijing-hong-kong-lawyers-as-china-s-brazil-deals-boom.html
The expansion will partly serve Chinese companies such as Cnooc Ltd. and China Petrochemical Corp. that want to invest in Brazil, said Mel Immergut, chairman of the New York-based law firm that announced a new Sao Paulo office in April.
?If you could pick one theme of all the visits that we made to these big state-owned enterprises, it was Brazil, Brazil, Brazil,? he said in an interview after a week in China.
China Petrochemical last month agreed to pay $7.1 billion for 40 percent of Repsol YPF SA?s Brazil assets. Chinese companies want to participate in the planned $224 billion of investments by Brazil?s state-controlled oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA to develop new offshore fields, Immergut said.
?Because of the incredible natural resources that there are in Brazil, but also because of the fact that Brazil is going to be a huge economic power,? Immergut said, ?China wants to be there at the early stages of Brazil?s burgeoning growth.?
Milbank is also expanding to offer local law advice in Hong Kong as more companies from around the world list there and as China?s Hong Kong-listed companies including Cnooc do more deals.
Milbank?s investments in China and Brazil are part of the firm?s longer-term planning, Immergut said. More than half of its revenue already has a non-U.S. connection he said, and that should grow with a larger proportion coming from Asia and Latin America, he said.
The firm had revenue of $601.5 million in 2009, according the American Lawyer.
Immergut, who had also spent a week each in India and Brazil before visiting China, said that Milbank plans to expand its India practice group, adding lawyers who would have a 100 percent focus on Indian work.
They would be based in Singapore, London or Hong Kong as foreign law firms are banned from opening offices in India.
