The international lawyers at my law firm have been increasingly fielding inquiries from companies looking to diversify their supply chains away from China. Many of these companies are looking to move their China manufacturing to Southeast Asia. To help our clients moving to or already in Southeast Asia, I recently went to Vietnam, Indonesia, and
Chinese nationals face serious restrictions on their ability to buy land in Florida, with the entry into force of SB 264 on July 1 of this year. This new law curbs real estate acquisitions by citizens of seven “countries of concern” (China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and “the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro”),
With the wave of news surrounding due diligence company crackdowns in China, with Mintz Group and Bain & Co. as the highest profile targets to date (see here and here), a reporter reached out to inquire how legal practitioners are dealing with this diminished access. She wanted to know whether and how this complicates business
China Representative Offices Is your company considering setting up a Representative Office in China? You will likely find that the process is not as easy as it used to be. In many cases, plans for a Chinese Rep Office result in creating a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE), which is one significant step beyond a Rep
It was revealed today that China raided a large and well-known American company earlier this week, seizing five of its staff and shutting down its operations in China. This is a big deal and I thought it important I write about it as soon as possible. 1. Factual Background on the Raid My facts regarding
Last year, I asked my good friend Andrew Hupert of North American Strategic Planning to explain what is involved in moving manufacturing from China to Mexico. I chose Andrew for this because he has spent so much time in both China and Mexico, navigating their manufacturing systems from the inside. My law firm frequently consulted with
Way back in 2010, I wrote Ten Reasons Chinese Companies Fail In The U.S. for Forbes Magazine. My top ten list in that article was as follows: 1. Chinese companies focus on a Chinese consumer, not an American one. 2. Chinese companies fail to realize how one reputation-damaging mistake in the United States can doom
December was a typically busy transactional month for our China team with the end of the calendar tax year looming. We were brought onto a China acquisition by one of our PE clients mid-month, and we closed before the end of the year. This cyclical frenetic pace of closing deals has caused me to reflect
Most of what we write about frauds involving China are about frauds perpetrated by Chinese companies against foreign companies. But as a reader recently emailed me, frauds perpetrated within foreign companies in China “are at least as common and every bit as damaging.” I agree, and today’s post highlights six of the most common internal
A while back (I am being intentionally vague here to avoid identifying anyone) a U.S. client company contacted our China lawyers about shutting down its China WFOE and/or terminating all of its roughly 47 China employees in one fell swoop. The U.S. company had discovered rampant corruption among its employees and its CEO wanted the
