Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance announces leadership appointments for China

Beijing, Shanghai: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has announced the appointment of Terence Foo and Tim Wang as Co-Managing Partners of its mainland China offices effective 1 May. They will assume the role from Stephen Harder who is retiring from the firm after 20 years, including 14 years as China Managing Partner. Terence, Tim and Stephen are working closely together to ensure a seamless transition for clients and colleagues.

Terence has been a partner since 2009 and heads the Private Equity practice in China. He has extensive experience advising multinational corporate clients on private and public M&A and joint ventures in China as well as in advising Chinese enterprises on their overseas acquisitions in a broad range of sectors.

A partner since 2010, Tim specialises in cross-border M&A and capital markets, and has been particularly active in advising large Chinese companies on their outbound investments and overseas listings. Clifford Chance is a market leader in Greater China Equity Capital Markets and in 2015 advised on nine Hong Kong IPOs totalling US$13.5 billion.   

During Stephen's tenure, the China team has been widely recognised for its depth and breadth of practices and sectors. This is evidenced most recently by award wins such as Asian Legal Business 2016 China International Law Firm of the Year, Chambers 2016 China Finance Firm of the Year and China Business Law's International Law Firm of the Year. Currently, the Beijing and Shanghai offices have together, 13 partners and over 90 fee earners. In addition, the recent partner promotions of Mandarin speaking Timothy Democratis in Beijing and Edith Leung in Hong Kong build on the momentum and ambition of the firm in China.

Global Managing Partner Matthew Layton said, "We are very proud of Terence and Tim who represent the firm's next generation of great leadership. We are fully committed to China as it remains a key growth market for the firm and we are certain that they will build on the firm's success, leading our strong focus on clients. I have no doubt we will continue to thrive as the best international practice in China.

"I congratulate Stephen on a long and distinguished career at Clifford Chance and thank him for his dedication. He has been a tremendous asset to the firm, consistently demonstrating steady and thoughtful leadership."

Stephen said, "It has been an honour serving as China Managing Partner and I am very proud of our team which is deep in talent and experience. We have accomplished so much together and I am sure our China practice will continue to grow with our clients."

Tim and Terence commented, "We are very excited and honoured to be leading such a talented team in China. We will deliver the best outcomes for our clients and will work hard to ensure our people feel supported and empowered in their work."

Clifford Chance established an office in Beijing in 1985 and in Shanghai in 1993.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1.     China's recent headline deals include consistently advising on some of the largest Hong Kong IPOs including nine in 2015 totalling US$13.5 billion; advising Actis on sale of minority stake in Chinese hotel chain, Plateno Hotel Group; COFCO on its US$1.5 billion acquisition of a 51% stake in Noble Agri and its subsequent USD750 million acquisition of the remaining 49% stake; EJF Capital LLC on its QDLP fund launch; and on Bank of China's multibillion four currency bond issuance.

2.     Clifford Chance operates across Asia Pacific, with offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Perth, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. The firm also operates an association with Linda Widyati & Partners in Indonesia. With over 450 lawyers in Asia Pacific alone, it is one of the largest international firms in the region, enjoying a market leading reputation across practices.

3.     Clifford Chance is one of the world's pre-eminent law firms with significant depth and range of resources across five continents. As a single, fully integrated, global partnership, we pride ourselves on our approachable, collegiate and team based way of working.  We always strive to exceed the expectations of our clients, which include corporates from all the commercial and industrial sectors, governments, regulators, trade bodies and not for profit organisations.  We provide them with the highest quality advice and legal insight, which combines the firm's global standards with in-depth local expertise.

4.     Clifford Chance was ranked 'Band 1' in more cross-border tables than any other firm in the Chambers Global 2016 Directory. This independent analysis focuses on firms' legal ability, professional conduct, client service, and commercial awareness, and these rankings provide outstanding recognition for the firm's breadth of expertise and consistency of quality across global markets.