Faculty Online Seminar – “Anticipating and Managing Government Approvals in Cross-border Acquisitions” by Mr. Hans-Guenther Hermann

This seminar discusses government approvals for cross-border acquisitions from the perspective of a legal practitioner. Traditionally, governments, especially in emerging economies, sought to limit foreign participation in protected industries through foreign direct investment approvals. Their scope has been reduced in the last few decades. Instead, approval requirements targeted at specific policy areas like anti-trust and national security have become more important.  We will discuss what the most critical approvals are in the current world trade environment.

Such approval processes can take many months and their outcome and the conditions imposed can be hard to predict. Parties will attempt to avoid or mitigate negative outcomes through the structuring of transactions, clauses that allocate the risk of uncertainty and undertakings about the conduct of approval procedures. We will look at these issues and how they are addressed in contractual negotiations.

About the speaker:
Mr. Hans-Günther Herrmann is a registered foreign lawyer and counsel in the office of a U.S. law firm in Hong Kong. He studied law and Chinese studies in Bonn and Paris and graduated from University Paris 2 (Panthéon-Assad) and the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales. He is a member of the Paris and California bars. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and private equity.

The online seminar is organized for CUHK LAW students to attend only.