By Xiong Jin  King & Wood Mallesons M&A Group

In recent years, China’s shale gas industry has attracted great interest from both domestic investors – state-owned or otherwise – and major offshore players, thanks to a broad range of initiatives and preferential policies promulgated by the central government with a view to encouraging investment.

Notwithstanding these encouraging developments, the regulatory regime for the shale gas industry is still in its early stages,and development has been slow. The regime also poses unique challenges for foreign investors. This article discusses regulatory developments, potential pitfalls and some structural options.
Continue Reading Before You Invest in China’s Shale Gas Assets

By Susan Ning, Liu Jia and Hazel Yin

On February 9, 2012, the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") published its first conditional clearance decision in 2012, approving the proposed joint venture ("JV") established by Henkel Hong Kong Holdings Co., Ltd. ("Henkel HK") and Tiande Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. ("Tiande") ("Transaction").  This is the second conditional clearance decision in relation to a joint venture and reaffirms MOFCOM’s approach that formation of a joint venture does constitute a notifiable transaction under the Anti-monopoly Law ("AML"). 1

Review Process.  MOFCOM received the notification on 8 August 2011 and  officially accepted it on 26 September 2011.  The case entered into Phase II on 25 October 2011 and the parties submitted the proposed remedies on 13 January 2012, shortly before MOFCOM decided to extend the Phase II period for another 60 days on 19 January 2012. On 9 February 2012, MOFCOM made the final decision to approve the Transaction with conditions.Continue Reading MOFCOM Issued the Second Conditional Clearance on Joint Venture