With the dual aim of scoring more China outbound work (especially into Brazil) and boosting its Hong Kong practice, Milbank Tweed is planning to add approximately 10 lawyers to its current headcount of 15 in its Greater China offices.
According to Anthony Root, China managing partner and head of Milbank’s Asia corporate practice, a significant part of that growth is associated with the development of the firm’s Hong Kong law practice, which will be led by soon-to-join partner Dieter Yih. Yih, who will retire at the end of 2010 from the partnership of Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques, will join Milbank’s US partnership in January 2011 and Milbank’s Hong Kong partnership when it is established later that year.
The firm will also continue to actively recruit laterals across its core practice areas like capital markets, corporate finance, M&A, banking and project finance.
Apart from building its Hong Kong practice, the firm’s new expansion strategy is also part of its focus on Sino-Brazilian work. The expansion is driven by the firm’s desire to better serve Chinese companies, such as CNOOC and China Petrochemical Corporation, that want to invest in Brazil.
"Latin America is a major focus of outbound investment activity for China. When we speak to SOEs, they clearly see Brazil as a key emerging power with enormous natural resources, so they want to be in on it from the beginning,” said Root, who expects to see a number of other major Brazil deals closing in the next couple of years.
The firm recently advised State Grid, China's power transmission utility, on its US$1.7bn acquisition of transmission lines owned by Spanish companies in Brazil – one of China's biggest investments in Brazil to date.
This week, the firm will be running its 2nd Annual China Latin America Investment Forum, bringing in lawyers from Latin American partner firms in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia to speak to an audience of Chinese SOEs, private companies, financial institutions, export credit agencies and other government entities and funds. ALB
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