Leveraging 'good basic understanding of tax laws across jurisdictions', Morrison & Foerster is particularly skilled at advising on cross-border tax structuring work associated with transactions handled by the firm. In this context, 'very commercial and extremely responsive' New York-qualified team head Matthew Lau excels in advising Asian corporates on the tax law issues associated with their US corporate/M&A activity. Zhifei Xie is also a key member of the team and is particularly focused on advising US and Asia-based fund sponsors and investors on tax issues in relation to the formation of, and investments in private funds.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
'They have strong skills especially in understanding and distilling issues across jurisdictions. They are also willing to ask the right questions which helps analyse/narrow down issues for clients.’
'They tend to have a good basic understanding of tax laws across jurisdictions which helps them formulate the right questions rather than starting from scratch.’
‘They are one of the very few international firms that have a US tax practice in HK, which is a very big advantage because they can serve Asian clients on US tax matters in the same time zone.'
‘Matthew Lau has an excellent grasp of tax law.'
‘Matthew Lau is very commercial and extremely responsive. He has a genuine attitude to helping clients solve their tax issues.’
Key clients
- GLP Pte. Ltd.
- SoftBank Group/ SoftBank Vision Fund/ SoftBank Ventures Asia
- China Investment Corporation (CIC)
- Alibaba Group Holding Limited
- Visa
- BlackRock Group Limited
- Tate & Lyle PLC
- Ping An Insurance
- Sino-Ocean Capital
- Ascendent Capital Partners Asia
Work highlights
Advised Sekisui House, Ltd. on the tax aspects of its $4.9bn acquisition of M.D.C. Holdings, Inc., a large US homebuilder listed on the NYSE.
Advised Ascendent Capital Partners on the tax aspects of its $1.66bn acquisition of Nasdaq-listed Hollysys Automation Technologies Ltd., a leading automation control system solutions provider in China.
Advising IndoSpace in connection with the formation of IndoSpace Logistics Parks IV LP, the company’s fourth development vehicle, targeting $600m of total equity commitments.
Lawyers
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Practice head
Matthew Lau
Other key lawyers
Zhifei Xie