Allens Arthur Robinson has acted for Rio Tinto in respect of its agreement with Chalco, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto’s largest shareholder, Chinalco, in relation to the Simandou iron ore project joint venture. The JV agreement will cover the development and operation of the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, including the planning, construction and management of the mine and associated rail and port infrastructure. Chalco will earn an effective 44.6 percent interest in the project, which is considered to be perhaps the best undeveloped iron ore prospect in the world, by sole funding expenditure of US$1.35 billion. Partner Scott Langford led the transaction, whilst Linklaters acted as UK and US advisers to Rio Tinto. Baker & McKenzie acted for Chinalco.

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August

*Gibson Dunn is planning to expand into mainland China following the launch of its Hong Kong office yesterday. The firm’s latest office, which will initially focus on corporate transactions, compliance, regulation and investigations, is being headed by former General Electric International lawyer Kelly Austin It will act as a springboard into mainland China, where the firm is looking to shore up its client base. Gibson Dunn also plans to open an office in either Beijing or Shanghai.

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Outsourcing legal services to India continues to be a growing trend for many U.S. businesses. In response to the recent economic lull, Wall Street financiers, mining companies, insurance providers and industrial conglomerates are hiring attorneys in India to take on work typically delegated to junior associates.  There is a growing demand for legal outsourcing as U.S. companies look to Indian attorneys for document review, due diligence and contract management at a fraction of the cost. In the last 5 years, over 100 new legal outsourcing companies have opened in India. This year alone, revenue from the 140+ Indian firms is expected to reach $440 million and should surpass $1 billion by 2014.

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Recently, the Chinese government has been creating new enforcement methods for their Intellectual Property Rights policies. Since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has made a great effort to create policies for IPR that more closely resemble those of the most developed countries. The amended IP regulations in China are in complete accordance with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The TRIPS agreement was negotiated in 1994 and is the first ever attempt at introducing IPR regulations in the international trading system. Because China has adopted the TRIPS regulations into their domestic IPR laws, the Chinese economy is better able to align its IPR structures with other WTO countries. As a result, venture capital investment in China is on the rise. Investors see more possibilities in the Chinese market as the laws create greater protections for intellectual property.

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Gigi Cheah and Justin Davidson have been appointed to Norton Rose Hong Kong’s intellectual property, communications, media and technology practice team. Cheah is a non-contentious intellectual property and technology lawyer specializing in licensing, outsourcing, data privacy, life science, technology procurement, commercial work and telecommunication broadcastings and competition matters. Davidson’s practice focuses on both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property matters. He specializes in transactional, intellectual property prosecution and dispute resolution, exploitation and advisory IP work. Both Cheah and Davidson join Norton Rose from DLA Piper’s Hong Kong office.

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Governor Schwarzenegger nominated Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye of the Court of Appeals, Third Appellate District to be the next Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court.

In response to the Governor’s announcement, Justice Cantil-Sakauye released this statement: “It is a privilege and a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to serve as chief justice of the California Supreme Court.  I have had the distinct pleasure of being a municipal court judge, a superior court judge and an appellate court justice. Being nominated to serve on the highest court in California is a dream come true. I deeply respect the inspirational and visionary work of Chief Justice Ronald George and hope to build upon it. As a jurist, woman and a Filipina, I am extremely grateful for the trust Governor Schwarzenegger has placed in me.  I hope to show young people what they can achieve if they follow their dreams and reach for their full potential.”

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China and India have become the leading suppliers of goods to the United Arab Emirates. India exported a record 61.5 billion dirhams (about 16.7 billion dollars) worth of goods to the UAE in 2009 while China exported 47.8 billion dirhams (about 13 billion dollars) to UAE last year, totaling 109.3 billion dirhams. Imports from China and India make up 24.5 percent of the UAE’s total imports. The United States, Japan and the European Union formerly served as the top exporters to the UAE during the 1990’s. In the past ten years, however, India and China have emerged as the most dominant import sources to UAE. The increased presence of China and India is the result of an aggressive marketing maneuver by the two countries. They offer competitive prices, geographical convenience and strong political relationships to the UAE. The marketing blitz along with the volatility in the bill of imports from key Western suppliers established India and China as the dominant suppliers of import goods.

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Sino-Ocean Land Holdings subsidiary Sino-Ocean Land Capital Finance Limited issued a US$900m of perpetual subordinated convertible securities. The securities are treated as equity, making the negotiation of their terms and conditions complicated because the securities could not be compared to traditional convertible bonds.  Long-term legal advisor Kejie Law Firm of Beijing represented Sino-Ocean Land Capital Finance Limited in this deal. The convertible securities are perpetual with no fixed redemption date and make up the first issuance in Hong Kong where securities are recognized as equity on the issuers balance sheet upon issue.  Paul Hastings acted as International counsel while Maples and Calder acted as Cayman Islands counsel. The convertible securities will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange upon completion.

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On Thursday, July 15, 2010, the United States Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing for the Honorable Leslie E. Kobayashi, nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, and for Edmond E. Chang, nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. For the past ten years, Judge Kobayashi has served as a U.S. magistrate judge in Hawaii. Before that, she acted as a commercial litigator and served as a deputy prosecutor with the city, and county, of Honolulu. Mr. Chang has served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois for over a decade, and has also taught civil rights litigation as at Northwestern University. Following Thursday’s hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its own hearing to decide whether to approve the nominees. Should either one, or both, be approved, their nominations will head to the Senate floor for confirmation. Both federal judges were nominated by President Obama, and represent a continuation of his commitment to nominate historically under-represented groups to the federal bench. For example, although Asian-Pacific Americans compose over sixty percent of Hawaii’s population, there has never been more than one Asian-Pacific American federal district judge serving there at a time.

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Hong Kong is presently the world’s largest IPO center. However, latest reports from Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predict that China is well on its way towards leading the IPO market.

From 2000 to June 2010, companies in China’s mainland raised $188 billion in 495 deals on the leading bourses such as New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Nasdaq Stock Market, London Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Overall, there were 1,114 global deals raising $366 billion in the same period. Hong Kong Stock Exchange was ranked first with 409 deals raising $171.2 billion.

In the near future, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predicts that domestic PRC companies are expected to raise US$55.7 billion on the Shanghai Stock Exchange this year, while in Hong Kong the figure is expected to be US$47.7 billion.

It can be deduced that the Chinese companies are recovering from the worldwide economic slump and have not been adversely affected by the Europe debt crisis. In terms of fund raising, more Chinese companies choose domestic capital markets as they have become increasingly attractive compared with foreign markets. Domestic companies have raised RMB213bn from 176 IPOs in the first half of the year, more than the RMB187bn raised in the whole of 2009. And according to PwC’s predictions, the total number of new listings on the country’s two bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen may reach 300 in 2010, compared to 99 last year. Unlike other countries, China has high investor confidence due to increasing listing value and the strict regulations of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

Companies in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries constituted nearly 68 percent of the total funds raised in the past decade. London stock exchange, NYSE and NASDAQ were ranked second, third and fourth respectively in the report.