As team leader, I am committed to developing international legal talent, honing execution and problem-solving skills through practical experience. The current legal team comprises 36 members, including 10 Chinese lawyers and 26 foreign lawyers. All members are graduates of prestigious universities such as Tsinghua, Peking University, and Columbia, and are equipped to support the company’s energy investment and M&A, securitisation and listing, overseas compliance management, cross-border litigation, and asset management activities across multiple jurisdictions including Hong Kong, Peru, Germany, and Pakistan.

In 2020, the team overcame challenges such as the global COVID-19 pandemic and Peru’s nationwide state of emergency to complete the successful delivery of the Peru Rudes project over more than 400 days. The total transaction value was $USD 4.151 billion, making it the largest overseas power M&A project by a Chinese enterprise at the time and marking the first entry of a Chinese enterprise into Peru’s large-scale public utility sector.

In 2021, amid ongoing political instability in Peru and persistent rumours of energy company nationalisation, the team proactively identified signals of policy tightening. One month prior to the inauguration of the Castillo administration, we initiated work to sign a legal stability agreement and submit a foreign investment registration application with the Peruvian government. After three years of effort, in 2023 the legal stability agreement was signed, safeguarding an additional investment of $USD 473.3 million and securing protections including tax stability, freedom of foreign exchange, and unrestricted profit repatriation.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting? 

One of the most remarkable experiences in my career was the 2020 acquisition of the Peru Rudes project, which took place during the global COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Peru was under a nationwide state of emergency, with personnel quarantines and work stoppages, presenting unprecedented challenges to the transaction. The acquisition was highly complex, involving Peruvian antitrust review, mandatory tender offers, and multiple listed companies both domestic and overseas. Coupled with the impact of the pandemic, the transaction faced a series of unprecedented difficulties.

As head of the project legal team, I remained on-site in Peru. During the antitrust review process, when committee members were in home quarantine and unable to sign documents, I facilitated the Peruvian antitrust authority’s first-ever use of electronic signatures. When the shareholders’ meeting could not be convened due to the state of emergency, I consulted with local legal experts and innovatively proposed completing the board re-election through multiple board meetings. During the mandatory tender offer, the transaction involved three listed companies in China, the United States, and Peru, requiring compliance with the strict regulatory and disclosure requirements of the Chinese A-share market, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Peruvian securities market. After nine rounds of enquiries and communications with the Peruvian regulatory authorities, the transaction was ultimately approved, and the tender offer was successfully completed.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?    

Key considerations include experience and performance in overseas investment, with particular attention to the track record of the legal team and whether they possess substantial experience in handling antitrust reviews. The ability to resolve conflicts of law across multiple jurisdictions is also critical, especially when state-owned enterprise regulatory requirements conflict with local laws, and whether the team can balance these differing legal obligations and propose appropriate solutions.

The professional background of the legal team members, their primary practice areas, language proficiency, and capacity to provide integrated Chinese and international legal services are also important factors. Finally, cost and efficiency are assessed: while maintaining service quality, the firm’s fees, project timelines, and responsiveness are key evaluation criteria.