本月初，吉利控股集团宣布，已经完成对福特汽车公司旗下沃尔沃轿车公司的全部股权收购。 获得包括欧盟在内的十多个政府相关部门的反垄断审查是交易完成的必要环节之一。富而德律师事务在此项目中为吉利提供全程国际法律服务和咨询。该所北京办事处合伙人韩亮带领其反垄断法团队，作为全球协调人协助此交易完成包括欧盟反垄断调查机构、中国商务部、以及澳大利亚、俄罗斯和美国政府相关部门等的整个审批程序。

韩律师认为，随着中国企业在海外的市场逐步扩大，海外投资并购交易规模不断增长，更多企业在国际化过程中将会面临多国反垄断调查机构的监管。全球反垄断法合规和申报问题因此将越来越受到这些国内企业的重视。

Two transactions by Chinese companies have recently received merger clearance from foreign regulators. Antitrust and competition lawyers expect that as domestic companies continue to push into overseas markets, they will regularly be subject to scrutiny under foreign antitrust regulators.

Zhejiang-based automaker Geely (the name means 'lucky' in Chinese) completed its US$1.8bn acquisition of Swedish premium brand Volvo on 2 August 2010. Through the acquisition, Geely will not only obtain a critical edge in its home market but also make a major inroad into the European and North American markets.

The successful completion of the biggest overseas acquisition by a Chinese automaker to date, however, was not based on luck. Working alongside the company's sizable strategy and execution team was a strong team of legal advisors, including leading international firm Freshfields and PRC top-tier Haiwen. Apart from advising on complex issues relating to corporate, IP, tax, finance and employment law, the legal advisors also handled merger control filings and antitrust related issues across more than 10 jurisdictions, including the European Union, US, China, Russia and Australia.

The Geely-Volvo deal is the most recent illustration of how correctly performed global antitrust compliance and merger control filings are becoming pivotal to the worldwide ambitions of Chinese companies; without strong legal advice in these areas, overseas expansion plans can fall through.

"In the Geely-Volvo deal, the target company has substantial sales around the world, so the transaction triggered merger filing thresholds in over 10 jurisdictions," said Michael Han, a partner of Freshfields in Beijing, who co-headed the firm's team working on the antitrust aspect of the transaction. Han and his team worked closely with Geely and coordinated all the merger filings required, including a filing with the MOFCOM. "It's a quite challenging process in the sense that we had to complete all the filings and obtain approvals within about two months, and the client was not so familiar with antitrust regimes in other countries," he said.

Another recent transaction approved by the EU was the establishment of a JV between Air China and Cathay Pacific. Under the deal, Cathay acquired 49% of the interests in Shanghai-based Air China Cargo (the JV) and conversely Air China reduced its stake in the JV from 100% to 51%. Although both companies and the JV are all located outside the EU, the EU sales revenue of the parties' corporate groups exceeded certain thresholds and so the notification to the European Commission became necessary. Cathay notified the Commission of the transaction in May 2010 and in July the EU antitrust regulator approved the proposed JV.

"With Chinese companies increasingly acquiring controlling stakes in foreign companies, the number of similar transactions in which multi-jurisdictional merger filings are required will grow," said Han, who was also involved in this JV transaction. "In addition, they also need to consider making merger filings for certain transactions that take place in China and Asia but can potentially meet notification thresholds in other jurisdictions." ALB

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