By Hu Yangxiaoxiao 胡阳潇潇
毅柏于近日宣布，其“APPLEBY GLOBAL SERVICES (SHANGHAI) LIMITED”（AGS）将于9月正式落地上海，探索为中国客户提供一站式综合离岸服务，从而节省更多时间成本。
据悉，AGS是毅柏旗下的企业服务板块，其未来将与提供法律服务的毅柏律师事务所一起，为客户提供“法律+企业”的一站式服务。
毅柏的香港和上海管理合伙人布泰玮（David Bulley）告诉ALB，AGS致力于提供专业的企业和基金管理、合规与财务报告，以及信托和家族办公室服务。“AGS 上海未来最普遍的作用是为创始人和投资者设立离岸公司，这些公司将用于合资企业、控股工具和红筹架构的上市公司。”
“公司管理职能以外，AGS 还可以协助客户设立离岸信托，提供受托人服务，这些信托通常用于员工持股计划、家族信托和IPO信托，同时协助管理封闭式基金的运营及投资者关系。”布泰玮说——过去几年，毅柏观察到随着中国经历代际财富转移，离岸信托结构的需求有所增加，现任家族负责人更加关注如何为后代保护资产。
毅柏表示，其在大部分离岸律所顺应市场情况相应缩减业务时，选择了对中国内地展开进一步投资，并通过香港和上海团队在大型复杂项目中提供法律咨询及服务，因此“在市场中逆势发展，并看到越来越多的客户将他们的工作转移到我们这里”。
“当前市场正在转向更为复杂的法律服务领域，特别是在争议解决和重组方面，毅柏已成为处理这些复杂离岸事务的首选律所。在重组领域，中国房地产开发商正寻求毅柏处理复杂的债务重组；在诉讼领域，也有越来越多私募股权公司和投资者选择毅柏来处理他们的赎回案件和纠纷。”布泰玮说。
毅柏于2023年8月正式启动了上海离岸法律服务，并在过去两年迎来了姚华、黄伟、陈希欣、Ben McCosker律师加盟上海办事处，提供跨境投资、投资基金、资本市场、诉讼、破产等广泛领域的服务。
过去两年，毅柏香港办公室也迎来了多位合伙人加盟。
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Appleby establishes Global Services Center in Shanghai
Offshore law firm Appleby has announced that its "APPLEBY GLOBAL SERVICES (SHANGHAI) LIMITED" (AGS) will officially launch in Shanghai this September. AGS is a fiduciary business unit. By cooperation between Appleby and AGS, a one-stop service can be provided to the Chinese client for their legal and fiduciary needs.
David Bulley, Managing Partner of Appleby Hong Kong and Shanghai, tells ALB that AGS provides expert corporate and fund administration, regulatory and financial reporting, and fiduciary and family office services. The most frequent use of AGS Shanghai will be for the formation of offshore companies for founders and investors which will be used for joint ventures, holding vehicles, and ListCos for Red Chip structures.
In addition, AGS can assist clients in setting up offshore trusts, providing trustees, which are often used for ESOPs, Family Trusts, and IPO Trusts, and assisting with the administration and investor relations of closed-ended funds.
Appleby has seen the demand for offshore trust structuring increased in the past years as a generational wealth transfer occurring in China which is driving the current family heads to look at protection of assets for future generations.
While many offshore law firms have scaled back operations in response to market conditions, Appleby has chosen to invest further in Mainland China. "Appleby continues to grow and see increasing numbers of clients moving their work to us because of the strength of our offering and the high quality and responsive legal advice provided by our Hong Kong and Shanghai teams on large and complex mandates."
“The current market is seeing a move towards the more complex end of legal services, particularly in the space of dispute resolution and restructuring and Appleby has become the go-to firm for this complex offshore work,” says Bulley.
“This can be seen particularly in the restructuring space where Chinese real estate developers have appointed Appleby to deal with the complex debt restructurings. Similarly, in the litigation market, we are seeing increasing numbers of PE firms and investors turning to Appleby to deal with their redemption cases and disputes,” he adds.
In August 2023, Appleby officially launched its offshore legal services in Shanghai. Over the past two years, the Shanghai office has welcomed lawyers such as Hannah Yao, Eason Huang, Kitty Chen, and Ben McCosker, who provide services in areas including cross-border investments, investment funds, capital markets, litigation, and insolvency.
In addition, several partners have joined Appleby’s Hong Kong office over the past two years.
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