今年入选排名的律所在过去一年中完成了一系列或重大、或复杂的境内和跨境并购。随着这些交易所涉及的法律问题变得更加多元化，律师们所扮演的角色也更加举足轻重，他们正在以全局视角、多域知识和丰富经验勇迎挑战，拥抱更多机遇。

根据普华永道发布的《2021年中国企业及行业并购市场回顾与前瞻》，过去一年里，中国国内并购交易数量创下历史新高，达到12,790宗，较2020年增长了21%。交易数量上的活跃离不开大环境的影响。隆安律师事务所高级合伙人刘晓明律师表示，就宏观角度而言，中国乃至世界都处于一个周期下行的大环境，这导致企业利润率下降，企业投资回报率也下降，进而导致企业估值下降，收购方可以以相对便宜的价格购入优质资产。

此外，刘律师还表示，新技术的应用与推广使得行业的边界被不断打破再重塑，造成行业内部的重新洗牌，行业之间的资本流动越加频繁，加之宏观下行造成了利率下行，进而出现了更多的投资机会，市面上因此出现大量的资金寻找投资机会。自2012年以后，中国加快了金融自由化的进程，在各种金融创新工具的加持之下，银行对并购贷款的限制也有了一定程度上的放松，投资并购基金也大量涌现。此时的中国与上个世纪五六十年代的美国有着一定程度上的相似性，因此中国也应更加保持警惕，加强对金融风险的管控，避免失控。

“在中国的并购市场，很少看到如欧美这种发达资本市场中常见的敌意收购和竞价收购。然而随着我国资本市场的不断发展，这个行业将不可避免的变得更加市场化，比如近年来公司上市从核准制向注册制的不断演化，再加上北交所的成立，都标志着未来大型公司之间的股权流转会变的更加频繁和顺畅，届时，即便面临外部压力，中国并购市场都将迸发出新的生机和市场活力。”刘律师告诉ALB。

尽管并购交易的数量上涨，但 《2021年中国企业及行业并购市场回顾与前瞻》中同时也指出，交易金额从2020年历史最高水平下降19%至6374亿美元。国枫律师事务所首席合伙人张利国律师表示，与2021年上半年相比，2022年上半年的全球交易金额呈现下降趋势，而且随着经济疲软对全球市场定价的影响，交易金额可能在下半年会进一步下降。

在交易金额下降的同时，观韬中茂律师事务所合伙人张文亮律师还观察到，投资人资金募集的规模减小、新设基金产品减少、大额交易数量显著下滑，并且交易周期变长，投资人风控更为严格，对目标公司的审核尺度也更为严格。

“一方面，我们看到大数据、互联网、游戏等行业受到监管政策影响导致交易不确定性增加；另一方面，高端制造业、高科技企业等领域仍是投资热点，尤其是国有背景投资机构的表现更为活跃，但与此同时交易结构的安排更需要巧思，谋求在市场化需求和国资监管需求两方面实现平衡。另外值得一提的一点则是，反垄断监管对并购的影响比以往更为明显。”张文亮律师说。

张利国律师也认同国有背景

投资机构会更加活跃的观点。他表示：“2022年是国有企业改革的收官之年，2022年上半年，我国国有企业改革及产业升级持续推进，境内国有企业的并购交易较往年较为活跃。” 此外，他还指出，生物技术/医疗健康行业受益于居民未来健康需求，境内外投资热度持续较高，医疗器械、营养保健、实验动物、创新药及中间体是较为热门的项目。在后疫情时代，资本市场对于诊疗质量和服务效率的关注度会持续提升，疫情防控常态化和远程诊疗相互依存，数字化持续渗透医疗服务各环节，创新成为行业领军企业的核心内驱力，而投资人也将会进一步助力企业实现持续的价值创造。

企业的新机遇、律师的新角色

张利国律师认为，全球金融市场的短期波动、通货膨胀、利率上涨、供应链危机和地缘政治紧张局势似乎都将发展成为长期趋势，企业和投资者都在适应新的商业环境，重新制定并购交易的重点和战略，将对未来发展及增长至关重要。

在此背景下，推动企业并购重组在中国当前市场环境下具有“抗风险” 与“促发展”的双重意义。一方面，通过并购重组来打通上下游，甚至实现跨行业发展，有助于企业分摊风险；另一方面，当前市场估值水平处于历史相对低位，对于企业来说，是开拓业务新版图的良机，特别是传统制造业用并购重组的方式掌握新业务、新技术，可对自身业务进行有益补充。因此并购交易仍是未来的战略重点，同时也将帮助企业转型、成长，并为其未来的成功奠定新的基础。

因此，律师在并购交易中的作用也越来越重要。张利国律师说：“随着资产市场的发展以及并购交易环境的变化，律师在公司并购业务中不仅仅只是参与者，更是同时肩负着并购策划者、方案设计者、风险排查者和交易执行者等多个角色的重要职责。面对愈加复杂的并购交易方案，律师应当更加高效地协调不同国家地区、不同主管部门之间的繁杂监管程序，更加全面地兼顾信息披露时间节点、信息披露内容一致性等合规事项。市场发展变化中蕴含的机遇和挑战将会进一步凸显律师在并购交易活动中的专业性及重要性。”

刘律师表示，对于企业而言，更加市场化的并购意味着对公司治理精细化和规范化的要求正在不断提高，并且对公司的管理层提出了更高的要求。对应在英美国家，如果一个上市公司因为经营不善，业绩不佳，或是董事会成员的经营管理出现重大不合规行为，就会因为股票价格的下跌容易成为其他企业的并购目标，而这种并购标的的出现又会同时吸引战略投资者和套利投资者进行竞价收购。在这种市场反馈机制有效的市场环境中，公司管理人员的每一个经营决策和管理行为都会对公司的命运以及自己的职业前途产生重大影响，并且对于合法合规经营的要求也会高很多，2018年中国《上市公司治理准则》的发布就是在为这一机制的到来做准备。

“在这种情况下，”刘律师说，“ 律师在并购市场要做的就不仅仅是过去的仅聚焦于交易双方的商务谈判，尽职调查，法律文件制备以及报送审核，还需要更多深入企业经营中的合规管理，公司内部治理，协调董事会与股东大会的关系，甚至需要基于多方市场动态为服务的企业作出一些战略性的建议，这就让律师的角色从单纯的为基于某次交易的法律服务者变身为参与企业全面管理的治理者角色，这也无疑给律师的工作提出了更高的要求，并带来更多的机遇和挑战。”

张文亮律师认为，对于被投企业而言，因为所处行业导致的融资难易程度分化的情况变得更为明显，需要企业结合自身情况做好经营及融资的规划。“如果在产业方面能够找到高端制造业、高科技、产业升级甚至国有企业产业整合概念，则比较有利于企业融资。除此以外，加强经营的规范性以及内控是企业以更好面貌应对投资人的基础。”

在此背景下，张文亮律师指出，在并购交易中，律师除了传统的交易架构设计、尽职调查、交易谈判及协议起草等工作以外，很多项目中需要律师承担更多协调投资人与目标企业共同推进交易的工作，此外，律师也需要能够熟练处理市场化交易安排与国资监管规则之间的差异与冲突，以及进行更多产业投资的经验与知识积累，站在产业的角度对交易进行判断和分析。

如此看来，律师在并购交易中所扮演的角色正在变得更加“厚重”，汉坤律师事务所合伙人束勍律师也认同这一观点。他说：“过去一年，由于复杂的市场环境变化，给并购交易市场带来了很大的机遇和挑战。所谓‘ 机遇’是指，由于优质资产的市场价格回落，使得市场上涌现了很多好的投资标的和投资机会；所谓‘挑战’是指，市场Beta风险给并购交易增加了投后的不确定性以及运营管理的难度。这对于交易律师在整体的架构设计、条款的保护机制设置上都提出了新的诉求，也更凸显出交易律师在整个并购环节中的重要性。”

一些重大交易

此次采访中，受访律师也同ALB分享了他们在过去一到两年里参与过的一些重要并购交易。刘律师印象较深的是一起关于国有水电公司的收购案件。根据十四五规划，我国可再生能源要实现高质量跃升发展，目前我国水电、风电、光伏发电、生物质发电装机规模分别连续17年、12年、7年和4年稳居全球首位。刘律师说：“我认为这是我们国家的一个好成绩，而在这成绩背后也演绎着各式各样的资本整合大戏，不过投资并购不应该仅是一场资本游戏，应该从微观上展现出国家大计与社会民生需求，其背后还应当体现出对社会负责、对人民有益的理念。目前全球各行各业都在努力朝着《巴黎协定》描绘的1.5摄氏度温控目标迈进，而这场交易同时体现出了我国对规制碳排放的努力和决心。像这样的并购案件让我深为感动。”

张利国律师告诉ALB，天然气全产业链运营龙头新奥股份是国枫持续服务了20多年的客户，2020年4月15日，国枫承办的新奥股份重大资产置换、发行股份及支付现金购买资产并募集配套资金暨关联交易项目获得中国证券监督管理委员会上市公司并购重组审核委员会2020年第12次会议无条件审核通过。本次交易中，新奥股份向BVI注册公司新奥集团国际投资有限公司及精选投资控股有限公司购买香港联交所上市公司新奥能源控股有限公司合计32.80%的股权，同时募集配套资金不超过35亿元。交易总对价约为258亿元，支付方式包括以新奥股份持有的澳大利亚交易所上市公司Santos Limited股份进行置换、向新奥国际发行股份以及支付部分现金。

“本次交易是市场较为少见的跨境换股交易，交易涉及中国大陆、中国香港及澳大利亚三地上市公司，交易主体还包括开曼、BVI注册的公司，涉及主体众多、交易结构复杂。通过本次交易，A股上市公司获得港股上市公司的控股权，达到港股优质资产回归A股的目的。本次重组推动新奥股份的总体战略由此前的‘定位于天然气上游资源获取，成为最具创新力和竞争力的天然气上游供应商’进一步延伸为‘成为创新型的清洁能源上下游一体化领先企业’。”张利国律师说。

张文亮律师分享道，2021年，他和团队代表一家国有控股上市公司并购医疗健康大数据行业企业，“该项目进行时，有关互联网数据安全的监管规则尚未落地，但监管趋势已经比较明显，因此在对目标企业的尽职调查及设计风险防控措施时，需要兼顾未来的监管趋势，同时该轮投资还涉及与境外投资机构的沟通协商及确保交易安排及有关流程符合国资监管规则，对律师团队的综合能力提出了较高的要求，我们也协助客户顺利完成了交易，得到客户的好评。”

展望未来

张利国律师认为，随着生产技术的不断发展，国际市场的不断开拓，传统市场领域的竞争变得更加激烈，企业逐渐认识到，通过并购形成的综合性集团虽然取得了一定的规模效益优势，但一个企业要处理好不同行业中的经营管理模式，其难度和成本也十分巨大。所以，一些大型集团企业吸取了多元化发展的经验教训后，开始形成以主业为核心、多元化配套发展的业务模式，主业和辅业之间既在资本市场领域存在一定的关联性，也保持在实体市场领域各自独立的状态。同时，一些综合性集团企业开始调整其组织结构，对现有的资源进行整合优化，同时开始追求更加专业化的经营管理模式，通过专业优势来抵御规模经济导致的成本劣势。对于企业而言，拥有行业领先的生产技术是使企业在一定时期内保持稳定、高利润收益水平的核心竞争力，也是长期稳定发展的关键。但是国际市场上的竞争是激烈的，仅凭借自身的优势已经难以满足市场瞬息万变的局势，这就要求企业必须要充分利用金融杠杆的力量，通过并购重组的方式来获取更多的技术优势。通过并购，可以用最短的时间和金钱成本更新企业自身的生产技术，使企业的核心竞争力始终保持在较前列的水平中。

在此背景下，张利国律师指出了并购律师需要注意的因素。以跨境并购项目为例，他说：“一般情况下均涉及到多国律师的协同工作，作为并购交易的中国法律顾问，律师应当从全局出发的角度，协调统筹前期方案可行性、合规性的论证与设计、信息披露、方案重大调整、境内外交易谈判及境内、境外主管部门审批、备案等事项，并重点关注客观因素对并购交易的影响、交易方案的合法性及可行性、交易程序的有效性及完整性、信息披露的同时性及一致性等问题。”

刘律师也分享道：“基于目前全球的变化，除了国内并购市场将会随着市场化程度的不断提高变得更加活跃外，在跨境并购上，外资投资并购国内企业的数量可能会减少，但由于欧美本身也在这次全球经济下滑中出现了很多困难，因此事实上有实力的内资在海外对外国的主体进行投资并购获取一些优质资产的可能性是存在的。比如英国的某些高端制造和生物医药公司，掌握着大量的关键技术，得益于英国对上市公司并购市场极少进行政策干预，内资在这一领域实际上是有机会的。相对应的，这就要求提供法律服务的律师不仅要精通基于国内的法律服务，更要努力探索新的知识领域，做好为我国企业出征海外提供有力法律支持的准备。”

束律师则告诉ALB：“以史为鉴，可以知兴替。纵观成熟资本市场过去数十年的迭代，交易中介服务的规范性、创新性以及成熟性也都是伴随着一波接一波的并购潮不断演进及优化的。由于并购交易的复杂程度较高以及需要兼顾的方面比较多，对于并购律师也提出了比较高的要求，既需要懂商业，也需要懂财税，最重要的是在交易的各个环节当中能够解决棘手或突发的问题，而不是循规蹈矩的提出风险但没有方案。由其在下行市场当中的并购机会，交易律师的“ 想象力”和“创造力”就更显得尤为重要了。”

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ALB M&A RANKINGS 2022

 

The law firms in this year’s list have participated in a series of major and complex domestic and cross-border M&As. With the issues involved in these deals covering a wider range, lawyers’ role is increasingly important. With a view of the “big picture”, knowledge in various areas, and experience accumulated by years, they are embracing more opportunities.

China M&A volumes surged to a new record of 12,790 transactions in 2021 – up 21 percent from the previous year, according to PwC’s China M&A 2021 Review and 2022 Outlook. The boom is attributed to variety of factors at the macro level. Liu Xiaoming, a senior partner at Long An Law Firm, says that from a macro perspective, China and even the world are in a downward economic cycle, and businesses have lower profit margins and ROi, causing valuations to drop. Buyers can purchase high-quality assets at relatively cheaper prices.

He adds that the application and promotion of new technologies are pushing and reshaping industry boundaries, causing rounds of industry reshuffle and more frequent capital flow between industries. This, together with interest rate falls amid a macroeconomic downturn, has catalyzed more investment opportunities and a big injection of capital. With China’s faster financial liberalization since 2012 and the introduction of various financial innovation tools, banks have loosened their restrictions on M&A loans to some extent, and investment and acquisition funds have proliferated. China at this time bears some resemblance to the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, so it should remain more vigilant by tightening control over financial risks.

“It’s rare to see hostile takeovers or auctioned acquisitions in China’s M&A market as in developed capital markets like Europe and the United States. However, as China’s capital market develops, the sector will inevitably become more market-oriented. For example, the recent transition from the approval system to the registration system and the establishment of the Beijing Stock Exchange point to more frequent and smooth equity transfers between large companies. By then, China will unleash vitality in the M&A market against external pressure,” Liu tells ALB.

Despite the increase in the number of M&A transactions, the report also revealed that deal values fell 19 percent to $637.4 billion from the historical high level in 2020. According to Zhang Liguo, partner at Grandway Law Offices, global deal value was going down in the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021, and is likely to decline further in the second half as a weakened economy impacts pricing in the global market.

Zhang Wenliang, a partner at Guantao Law Firm, also notes a decrease in the scale of funds raised, fewer new fund products, a significant decline in the number of large deals, and a longer deal cycle, with more stringent investor risk control and stricter audit of target companies.

“On the one hand, regulatory policies add to uncertainties on transactions in sectors such as big data, Internet, and games. On the other hand, high-end manufacturing and high-tech companies are still coveted by investors, especially by state-owned investment institutions. More thoughts are needed to structure a deal that accommodates both market demand and state-owned assets supervision. It is also worth mentioning that anti-monopoly regulation is playing a bigger role in M&As,” Zhang of Guantao says.

Zhang Liguo agrees that state-owned investment institutions are more active. He tells ALB: “In the first half of 2022, the closing year of the State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Reform Program, China continued to advance SOE reform and industrial upgrading, and M&A transactions of domestic SOEs were more active than in previous years.” He adds that the biotechnology and health care industries, amidst growing health needs, remain popular for domestic and overseas investments, with medical devices, health care, experimental animals, innovative drugs and intermediates being more popular. In the post-pandemic era, the capital market will continue to pay extra attention to the quality and efficiency of diagnosis and treatment services. Under normalized epidemic prevention and control, remote medical services become common, digital transformation continues across all aspects of medical services, and innovation serves as a core driver of growth for industry leaders. Investors will further help companies deliver sustainable value.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES, NEW ROLES

 According to Zhang Liguo, short-term volatility, inflation, and interest rate rises in global financial markets, supply chain crises, and geopolitical tensions appear to develop into long-term trends. Companies and investors alike are aligning their M&A focus and strategies with the new business environment, which is critical to their future development and growth.

in this context, M&A and restructuring are vehicles for domestic businesses to withstand risks and pursue development. On the one hand, M&As allow companies to spread risks by realizing upstream and downstream connections and cross-industry development. On the other hand, the market valuations are historically low, which is a good opportunity for business expansion. In particular, traditional manufacturing companies can acquire new business and technologies through M&As, a useful addition to their existing business structure. For businesses, M&As remain a strategic focus to help them transform and grow, and lay new foundations for future success.

This means lawyers are becoming increasingly important in M&A transactions. “As the assets market develops and the trading environment changes, lawyers are not just the participants, but they are carrying essential roles of deal planning and execution, scheme design, and risk screening,” Zhang Liguo says. “Faced with increasingly complex M&A proposals, lawyers should efficiently coordinate complicated regulatory procedures between different countries, regions, and authorities, while taking into account compliance matters such as the timing and consistency of disclosure. The opportunities and challenges arising from the changes in the market will highlight the necessity of professional lawyers in M&A transaction activities.”

Liu suggests that more market-oriented deals will raise the bar for the management in applying a fine and standardized corporate governance approach. in the UK and U.S., listed companies are easily targeted when their stock prices fall due to poor performance or major non-compliances by directors, and both strategic investors and arbitrage investors are attracted to bidding. In these markets with an effective feedback mechanism in place, managers make every decision and behaviour that may have a significant impact on the future of the company and their career, and requirements for legal and compliant operations are much higher. The Code of Corporate Governance for Listed Companies released in 2018 has laid the groundwork for the establishment of such a mechanism in China.

“Under such circumstances, M&A lawyers need to do more than just business negotiations, due diligence, the preparation and submission of legal documents for review. We should delve more into compliance management and internal corporate governance, coordinate the relationship between the Board of Directors and General Meetings of Shareholders, and make some strategic suggestions based on multi-market dynamics. As a result, lawyers are moving away from the role of a legal service provider for a particular deal to a supervisor of overall business management. This means not only higher requirements but also more opportunities and challenges,” Liu says.

Zhang Wenliang believes that the invested companies, facing pronounced differences among industries in financing difficulty, need to develop their operations and financing plans based on realities. “The financing proposals regarding high-end manufacturing, high-tech, industrial upgrading, and industrial integration of state-owned enterprises are more favourable. In addition, businesses need to provide investors with a better look by strengthening compliance operations and internal control.”

He also points out that M&A lawyers, in addition to traditional responsibilities of deal structuring, due diligence, deal-making negotiations, and agreement drafting, often need to take on more specialized tasks of coordinating investors and target companies to jointly promote the deal. Moreover, they need to skillfully address the differences and conflicts between market-based deal arrangements and state-owned assets supervision and accumulate experience and knowledge of investment in specific industries so that they can make professional judgments and analyses.

In this light, lawyers are playing a bigger role in M&A transactions. Shu Qing, a partner at Han Kun Law Offices, also agrees with that. He says: “Due to complex market changes over the past year, the M&A market has seen tremendous opportunities and challenges. By opportunities, we mean good investment targets and investment opportunities as the market prices of quality assets recede. By challenges, we mean that market beta risk has added to post-investment uncertainties and operational management difficulties. All this necessitates an increased reliance on lawyers throughout the M&A process, with higher requirements on overall structure design and protective mechanism setting.”

ENERGY BEHIND DEALS

The interviewed lawyers also share with ALB some of the major M&A deals they have been involved in the past one to two years. Liu mentions the acquisition of a state-owned hydropower company. China’s 14th Five-Year Plan envisioned goals of high-quality leapfrog development in renewable energy resources. So far, China has led the world in the installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, photovoltaic power, and biomass power for 17, 12, seven and four consecutive years, respectively. Liu says, “I think this is a brilliant achievement of our country, and behind are all kinds of M&A deals. However, investment and acquisition should not be made a capital game only. As a display of a country’s development plans and livelihood needs, they should convey the idea of fulfilling social responsibility and bringing benefits to people. When all industries around the world are working towards the 1.5 Paris Agreement goal, this deal shows China’s efforts and determination to regulate carbon emissions. I’m deeply moved by such projects.”

Zhang Liguo suggests that, with evolving production technologies, expansion into international markets, and increased competition in traditional markets, enterprises are beginning to realize that conglomerates formed through mergers and acquisitions will face huge difficulties and costs in dealing with operations and management models in different industries despite their advantages of economies of scale. With experience in diversified development, some conglomerates have developed a business model of the main business and diverse supporting business. Both are interlinked in the capital market, while maintaining their independence in the real market. At the same time, some integrated groups are adjusting their organizational structure, integrating and optimizing their existing resources, while pursuing a more specialized business model to counteract cost disadvantages caused by economies of scale. Industry-leading production technologies are essential for businesses to maintain core competitiveness that brings in steady, high-profit revenues over a period of time and to pursue long-term stable development. However, in the highly competitive and ever-changing international market, businesses cannot rely solely on their strengths, but should take on lots of leverage and seek technological advantages through mergers and acquisitions. In this way, they can update their production expertise with the least time and cost and stay at the forefront in terms of core competitiveness.

Zhang Liguo points out things that M&A lawyers need to pay attention to. “in general, cross-border M&A projects involve lawyers from multiple countries. Chinese lawyers should have a sense of the big picture, coordinating matters concerning the feasibility and compliance demonstration of preliminary plans, disclosure, major adjustments, domestic and overseas negotiations, and approval by and filings to domestic and overseas authorities. We should also focus on the impact of objective factors on M&A transactions, and ensure valid and feasible proposals, legal and complete trading procedures, and simultaneous consistent disclosure.”

Liu shares with ALB that “China’s M&A market will become more active as it becomes more market-oriented. As for cross-border M&As, the number of foreign-funded acquisition deals of domestic enterprises may decrease, but there stands a chance that strong domestic investors will acquire high-quality assets through investment in and M&A of foreign entities in Europe and the United States where many difficulties have arisen in the global economic downturn. For example, domestic investors can wait for opportunities to bag some British high-end manufacturing and biomedical companies which master a large number of key technologies given the country’s minimal policy intervention in the M&A market. We should expand expertise beyond legal services for the domestic market and explore new areas of knowledge so that we can provide better legal services for Chinese companies venturing overseas.”

Shu of Han Kun says that throughout the developments of capital markets in the past decades, the standardization, innovation, and maturity of trans-action intermediary services have been constantly evolving and optimizing with wave after wave of M&As.

Due to the complexity of the M&As higher and more aspects should be considered, higher requests have been raised for transaction lawyers. They need to understand business as well as finance and tax. Most importantly, they need to be able to solve complex or urgent issues at every step of the transaction, instead of simply highlighting the risks without providing solutions.

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