• Opening in Hong Kong
• Opening in Beijing
• Expansion in Shanghai

27th May 2008. Salans, the international law firm, with 18 offices worldwide, announces today a wide-ranging development of its Asian strategy.  Building on the success of the firm’s emerging markets practices and with a long established presence in Shanghai, Salans is now engaged in a major expansion of its activities in China.

New offices are to be opened in Beijing (subject to final regulatory approval) and Hong Kong, while its existing base in Shanghai will be expanded.

Salans will open in Hong Kong. The practice focus for Salans’ Hong Kong operation will be corporate, capital markets and institutional real estate transactions.  It will capitalise on the firm’s relationships with leading global real estate investors, private equity houses and investment banks.  Salans’ team in Hong Kong will also provide the conduit for financing and executing corporate and real estate transactions in Mainland China, and form a hub for the firm’s growth in Asia, outside China.  Salans has one of the largest real estate practices in the world and the only one with an emerging markets focus.

Salans’ Beijing office will serve clients with regional headquarters in the Chinese capital and will provide the base for Salans to develop its Foreign Direct Investment and M&A business in Northeast China.  The office will also provide a focal point for serving the growing number of clients in the Salans global network who are investing in China.

Finally, to match the firm’s growth, Salans is growing its existing Shanghai base with a move to new offices. Located in the new Park Place Office Tower, the firm has secured space to double its current team of lawyers.  The Shanghai office is focused principally on corporate work, on the real estate sector, tax and intellectual property.

The three locations across China will give Salans extensive coverage in one of the world’s fastest growing markets.

Stephen Finch, Salans’ Chairman, said:  “The investment we made in the early 1990s in emerging markets is paying dividends for us now.  It is allowing us to expand now in Asia at a time when many other firms are reining back their ambitions.  This move is a further step in our aim of making Salans one of the top tier legal advisers in the world’s high growth markets.”

Bernd-Uwe Stucken, co-managing partner of Salans’ China region added: “Salans has deep roots in China going back to 1989.  We have used this expertise to build a team of people who know the market well and have constructed a carefully thought-through China strategy; one that responds to a new phase in China’s development as it becomes a more mature and complex market.  We are serving clients not only on inbound and China work but will be capitalising on the increasing capital flows out of China that will be handled by our global team.”

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Salans is an international commercial law firm with over 750 lawyers operating from 18 offices in ALMATY, BAKU, BARCELONA, BERLIN1, BRATISLAVA, BUCHAREST, BUDAPEST, ISTANBUL, KYIV, LONDON1, MADRID, MOSCOW, NEW YORK, PARIS, PRAGUE, SHANGHAI, ST. PETERSBURG and WARSAW. The firm also has operations in the Middle East in Doha, Qatar and the French Pacific.  More information about Salans can be found at www.salans.com.

1 Salans LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership registered in London with Registration Number OC 316822. Registered Office Millennium Bridge House, 2 Lambeth Hill, London EC4V 4AJ, United Kingdom. Regulated by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority. A list of members of SALANS is available at the above Registered Office.