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 exp