China M&A Newsletter - September 2005

The past twenty-four months have seen a surge in the number of increasingly sophisticated merger and acquisition transactions involving U.S., Japanese and European multinationals and China-based companies (listed and unlisted, private and state-owned). Morrison & Foerster has advised on many such transactions, including representing Softbank in connection with Yahoo!’s US$1 billion investment in Softbank’s China affiliates, Alibaba.com and Tao Bao; UPS in its acquisition of its international express package delivery business from Sinotrans; and Joyo.com in its acquisition by Amazon.com. In this environment, it is critical to focus on the right issues in preparing for and executing a China M&A transaction. As advisors to some of China’s leading technology companies, multinational and private equity acquirers, we offer the following practical observations: