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  • Stuart Valentine

    萬思陶
    Partner
    Hong Kong
    T: +852 3443 1080
    M: +852 9307 2341
 

 Professional Biography

 

  • Stuart Valentine is a partner in our China practice. He has over 20 years experience representing clients on their transactions in Asia, particularly in China and Hong Kong. Before practising law, he was a diplomat stationed in the Australian Embassy in Beijing in the 1980's.

    Stuart advises on corporate and commercial matters, including mergers and acquisitions and business regulation, with a particular focus on cross-border transactions involving China. He has extensive experience across a wide variety of industry sectors including insurance, banking and financial services, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, manufacturing,distribution and natural resources.

    Sources describe Stuart as "mature and educated; flexible and effective", noting in particular that his "client-facing skills are matched by his technical excellence" (Chambers Asia, 2010).

    Stuart has been recommended as a 'leading lawyer' in the corporate, commercial and mergers and acquisition fields in China and Hong Kong in various legal directories from 1993 - 2012, including Chambers Global - The World's Leading Lawyers, PLC Global Counsel - M&A Handbook, the Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Asia Law's Leading Lawyers.

    PLC Which Lawyer? 2010 mentioned how he "commands market-wide recognition for his momentous involvement in cross-border M&A transactions involving China."

    Stuart is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong, England and Wales and Australia. He reads and writes Chinese and speaks Mandarin.
 

 Experience

 
  • 1981: University of Tasmania, B.A., LL.B. (Hons.)
  • 1981 - 1986: Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, Canberra, Hong Kong and Beijing
  • 1986 - 1988: Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, Hong Kong
  • 1988 - 1994: Clifford Chance, Hong Kong
  • 1994 - 2006: Partner, Clifford Chance, Hong Kong
  • 2006 - present: Partner, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Hong Kong
  • Stuart is admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong (1992) and the Supreme Court of England and Wales (1993), and as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Tasmania (1993). 

 

 Recent Matters

 
  • Recent Matters
  • Sino-Forest Corp - representing the Independent Committee of the Board investigating allegations of fraud
  • Campbell Soup - in its joint venture in China with Swire Pacific
  • Zuellig Pharma - on the sale of its pharmaceutical business in China to Cardinal Healthcare
  • ING - on the sale of its 50% interest in its China Life JV to China Construction Bank
  • Financial services: banking, insurance and asset management
  • The buyer of a life insurance company in Hong Kong
  • A European bank on its acquisition of a minority strategic stake in a Chinese bank and subsequent listing on the Shanghai Stock exchange
  • A consortium of four international financial institutions on their acquisition of an interest in a Chinese nation-wide life insurance company
  • Foreign insurers in the establishment and subsequent restructuring of shareholdings in over 16 joint venture life insurance companies in China
  • European and North American property and casualty insurance companies, reinsurers, insurance brokers and insurance agencies on the establishment of operations in China by way of acquisitions, joint ventures or branches
  • A number of international asset managers on the conclusion of cooperation arrangements with, and investments in, Chinese fund management companies
  • Asian regional mergers and aquisitions
  • An Australian explosives company on the Hong Kong and China aspects of its acquisition of a world-wide explosives manufacturing business
  • A German pharmaceutical manufacturer on the Hong Kong and China aspects of its global acquisition of the over-the-counter pharmaceutical business of a French pharmaceuticals company
  • A Japanese electrical equipment manufacturing company on the reorganisation of its Hong Kong corporate structure and manufacturing facilities in Shanghai
  • A NYSE listed consumer products company on the acquisition of the Hong Kong and China businesses of several US and Hong Kong companies
  • Private equity
  • The seller of a manufacturing business in China by way of an auction process to private equity buyers
  • A number of US and European private equity houses in respect of acquisitions in China, including the Chinese and Hong Kong aspects of global acquisitions
  • Several multilateral financial institutions on their investments in and loans to a number of domestic and foreign-invested companies in China
  • Industrial
  • A UK pharmaceutical company on the establishment of a wholly-owned manufacturing facility in eastern China and restructuring of its distribution arrangements in China
  • A US chemicals company on its investments in various joint venture chemical plants in China, as well as advising on its distribution and holding company structures in China
  • A German chemicals manufacturer on the establishment of over a dozen manufacturing facilities in China
  • A diversified US conglomerate on its investments in a number of joint ventures with Chinese electrical equipment and component manufacturers, as well as advising on various related issues including anti-trust, distribution and product liability
  • A UK foodstuffs and households products company on the establishment of various joint ventures in China, the merger of several subsidiaries in Shanghai and the establishment of a Chinese holding company
  • Resources
  • Sponsors and investors in 2 resources projects in Mongolia
  • An Anglo-Australian miner on the regulatory regime governing mining and refining in China, the acquisition of exploration rights and several mineral development projects in south-western China
  • An Australian company on its investments in explosives manufacturing joint ventures in Shandong and Shanxi Provinces and related approval and regulatory matters in China
  • Several other international mining and metals companies on exploration and exploitation projects in China, as well as advising generally on mining laws and regulations, government approval requirements in China
 

 Professional Memberships

 
  • Hong Kong Law Society
  • Law Society of England and Wales