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.

Following the last two years of salary freezes and lowered bonus structures, ex-pat packages in China and Japan have become a hot topic among U.S. and U.K. attorneys looking to relocate from the U.S. and U.K. to Asia. The top firms have weathered the economic crisis just fine according to data gathered by ALB Legal News, and most firms continue to offer competitive packages in Asia in order to attract and retain top legal talent. This is especially true of firms that, as newcomers to a given market, are anxious to increase their ranks.

Firms remain committed to the region, investing resources into their foreign offices, hiring or promoting partners, and offering competitive remuneration packages to their strongest attorneys, especially bilingual ones. While ex-pat packages have for the most part remained stable at top firms, especially in more mature legal markets like Tokyo and Hong Kong, we have seen more variance than ever over the past year. Increasingly there is a willingness to negotiate and make offers on a case-by-case basis.

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Asian markets must have breathed a sigh of relief after coming out less affected than most countries from the global financial crisis but are now keeping their fingers crossed as the world watches the European debt crisis unfold.

Financial markets are skeptical of the bailout plan, which the EU and the IMF created last month when Greece teetered near default and Spain and Portugal’s financial stability slipped. However, a web poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal revealed trade experts’ positive belief about Asia’s sustainability through the debt crisis. This is supported by the revision of Standard & Poor credit worthiness ratings which have lowered for western countries but have increased for many Asian countries.

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Andrew Hutton, formerly a senior lawyer at Paul Hastings, has defected to the Singapore office of O’Melveny & Meyers. With Hutton’s departure, Paul Hastings has now lost four senior-level lawyers from its Asia practice in the last year: US securities expert Joe Sevack, who left for Troutman Sanders, partners Maurice Hoo and Phoebus Chu, who left to Orrick, and Etsui Doi who departed for the co-head position at Foley & Lardner’s Tokyo office. Hutton will assume a counsel position at his new firm, and will be initially placed in Hong Kong before relocating to Singapore in early June 2010.

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Although assets under management in Asia’s mutual-funds industry are almost back to pre-2008 market crash levels, the models of distribution are also changing. Ken Yap, Singapore-based director at Cerulli Associates, who spoke recently at AsianInvestor’s annual investment summit in Hong Kong, notes that the regional industry’s AUM reached $950 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2010, inching closer to the 2007 peak of $1.1 trillion. Yap’s figure covers Asia ex-Japan, including China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and India, with China’s share being the biggest and fastest growing.

Though it might seem that the industry has been stable, change has occurred below the surface, in the form of mixed fund types. In 2005, equity funds accounted for just 23% of the industry’s AUM, and today it’s 47%. Money-market funds once made up 25% of assets but are as low as 16% today. The structure of distribution is also changing, according to Yap, with banks now accounting for 43% of assets sold in mutual funds and securities companies another 37%. Though insurance companies only accounted for 4% as of the end of 2009, Cerulli finds that fund managers are adding resources and are eager to see this channel become more important, since insurance-linked products deliver more secure customers.

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Amarchand Mangaldas won the Indian law firm of the year last night at the annual IFLR/Asialaw India awards that took place at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi. The firm was the most successful of the night, also receiving the award for dispute resolution and infrastructure & real estate firm of the year, as well as other awards in the Indian team categories for M&A and restructuring. The international law firm of the year award went to Latham & Watkins, which also won trophies for best international capital markets and M&A teams. Other main awards were presented to Enam Securities for the best Indian investment bank, and Bharat Vasani, chief legal and group counsel at Tata, for outstanding achievement.

Research from RSG Consulting has shown that the US presence in India has steadily increased, even though UK firms are still the most visible in India. US firms made up 53 per cent of all firms mentioned by Indian firms.“There are now far more US firms involved in India,” said RSG managing director Reena SenGupta. “There’s a fat head of magic circle firms but then a long tail of large US firms, because it’s a bigger investment destination. They also prefer to work with US firms because they think they’re cheaper.”

The exclusive alliances between UK and Indian firms also contribute to the US gains since UK firms are reluctant to pass work to rivals.

US firm Baker & McKenzie is the firm that has most improved its footing in India, behind Linklaters, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance.

There has been a growing trend in the Indian legal market of new alliances between top U.K. firms and local Indian ones. These alliances can take the form of anything from referral agreements to best friends agreements (otherwise known as exclusive referral relationships), and it seems that several U.K. firms, including most of those in the prestigious Magic Circle, have formed at least one.

This past June alone saw the establishment of two more formal alliances, one between Lovells and Indian firm Phoenix Legal, and the other between Clyde & Co. and Indian firm ALMT Legal.

According to The Lawyer in New York, Lovells’ Asia and Middle East head Crispin Rapinet attributes this trend partly to the “cultural affinity” between the U.K. and India, which may explain why U.S. firms have yet to build a strong presence in the region.

We do not expect these alliance formations to slow down anytime soon—the expected liberalization of the Indian legal market has made all top firms hungry for a piece of the pie.  The Lawyer in New York states that one Indian firm partner predicts at least five or six more alliances by the end of the year.

A little review: India has banned foreign law firms from practicing within the country since a 1995 ruling by Mumbai’s High Court.  But that doesn’t mean they haven’t become creative.  The decision drove out firms including Clifford Chance and White & Case to surrounding countries like Singapore, where they proceeded to serve Indian companies by “making acquisitions or raising funds abroad,” according to a recent Bloomberg article.  Firms even began hiring Indian lawyers for their foreign offices outside the country.

India began unlocking the door to its legal market in December 2008, when legislation was passed to allow limited liability partnerships that enabled Indian law firms to restructure themselves and become more competitive.  Clifford Chance recently signed a ‘best friends’ agreement with Indian Magic Circle firm AZB and hinted at a potential merger when India fully unbolts the door.

In the meantime, rumors have been floating around about other foreign law firms aligning themselves with Indian ones. No one has confirmed anything of the sort, and no one expects them to. The Indian Bar Association has continually denounced foreign interference in the legal markets.

“While these agreements are legal, they do not follow the spirit of the law. The Indian Bar Council has said that foreign lawyers should not be able to practice here,” said Rajiv Luthra, managing partner at Luthra & Luthra, to the Law Gazette. The firm has declined many offers for best friend relationships, since the whole relationship would be considered “foggy,” but it maintains that it would accept work from international firms.

The Minister of Law and Justice, H. R. Bhardwaj, told Bloomberg in the same article that he doesn’t believe the Indian Bar should continue resisting foreign firm access because it would generate a “thousands” of legal jobs. If the government remains open, maybe there is still a chance.

In a long-awaited move, the Indian law ministry today announced that it will seriously consider opening the country’s legal sector to UK-based law firms. While this is not yet a commitment to openness, it is at least a commitment to think about possibly being open at some point in the future. Progress comes in many shapes and sizes.

This commitment to consider comes as extremely welcome news to top UK firms like Linklaters, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance, who for years have been trying to gain a foothold in the country’s legal industry. Up until now, foreign firms have had to remain content with building an India presence through entering relationships with local firms loose enough to avoid running afoul of the strictures of the Indian regulatory scheme. Allen & Overy entered into an alliance with newly formed Indian firm Trilegal in February, while Linklaters and Talwar Thakore & Associates formed a referral agreement in 2006.

Opening up the country’s legal service market has been a lengthy struggle, with many Indian lawyers at traditional family-owned firms averse to the idea. Frustration with the UK’s rather stringent immigration and re-qualification requirements, which make it difficult for foreign attorneys to practice there, have not helped the matter.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has made its stance on the issue clear, stating that it will only consider an easing of barriers as part of a “reciprocity” agreement. BCI member Jagdev recently told The Economic Times that the BCI has “told the law ministry that [they] would consider applications of UK-based law firms only if they allow our lawyers to practice in their country. A stricter set of reciprocity rules would be laid out before we actually set out to start operations.”

For now, negotiations remain inconclusive and the law ministry’s committments noncomittal. Wait and see is the order of the day.