Thursday, May 26, 2005
Future of Chinese Corporate Law
That battle was more than just high drama. In many ways, it signaled the future of Chinese business. Not only did it rank as the first-ever contested takeover of a public Chinese corporation, but also the deal would never have happened just a few years ago because very few Chinese companies listed shares abroad, says Michael Moser, whose law firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, represented Anheuser-Busch. He says that the transaction also looked much like any U.S. deal. The lawyers dealt with many of the same issues: due diligence, documentation, representations and warranties. Chinese businesses are famous for their creative accounting, but like those of any corporation that borrows from an international bank, Harbin's books resembled a U.S. company's. "China is becoming much more sophisticated and international," says Moser, who is Freshfields's China managing partner and heads the firm's China Business Group." ¶ 5/26/2005 02:10:00 PM
law.com - Article: "The takeover of China's Harbin Brewery Group last summer was filled with nail-biting excitement worthy of any M&A deal on Wall Street. In May 2004 Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc., acquired 29 percent of the Hong Kong-listed company's shares. In turn, London-based SABMiller, which already owned over 29 percent of Harbin, launched a hostile takeover of the Chinese company three days later. But Harbin's management sided with Anheuser-Busch, and SABMiller withdrew its bid. In July 2004 St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch bought the brewery for a cool $739 million.
That battle was more than just high drama. In many ways, it signaled the future of Chinese business. Not only did it rank as the first-ever contested takeover of a public Chinese corporation, but also the deal would never have happened just a few years ago because very few Chinese companies listed shares abroad, says Michael Moser, whose law firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, represented Anheuser-Busch. He says that the transaction also looked much like any U.S. deal. The lawyers dealt with many of the same issues: due diligence, documentation, representations and warranties. Chinese businesses are famous for their creative accounting, but like those of any corporation that borrows from an international bank, Harbin's books resembled a U.S. company's. "China is becoming much more sophisticated and international," says Moser, who is Freshfields's China managing partner and heads the firm's China Business Group." ¶ 5/26/2005 02:10:00 PM
