Leading Chinese law firm Yingke opened a China Center in London on Thursday to help Chinese companies find investment opportunities in the UK.
This event marked a milestone in the international expansion of Yingke, which already opened similar centers in Milan and Berlin in September. Different from opening a subsidiary office to practice law in the local market, the China Center works more like a consultancy to identify business opportunities in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and greenfield investments.
"Our key strength is the trust we have from a large base of existing clients in China , so they ask for our advice and guidance when expanding overseas," says Linda Yang, global partner and executive chairman of Yingke's global board of directors.
"We came up with the idea of the China Center earlier this year when we realized our clients needed this, so we came up with a solution to help them," says Yang.
Under this model, Yingke would not base its lawyers in London, rather, the center will work in partnership with the British law firm Memory Crystal.
Yingke will refer the deals of its Chinese clients to Memory Crystal, whose lawyers will work on a draft copy of the legal documents using their understanding of British law, and Yingke's lawyers will then use its understanding of Chinese law and culture to shape the contracts and paperwork before giving them to Memory Crystal for final approval.
Yang says this model of cooperation will efficiently utilize resources, and will represent a strong model for Yingke's continued strong expansion.
She says once the working relationship with Memory Crystal is established, the two companies can work closely in many more countries, such as in Africa, where Memory Crystal has strong representation.
Nicholas Davis, a partner at Memory Crystal, also said that the opportunities for the two companies to cooperate in Africa is enormous, especially as many Chinese companies are now looking for opportunities in resources sectors in Africa and Memory Crystal already does extensive work in the resources sector across the continent.
