Publish time: Fri Sep 28 17:22:19 CST 2018
On the afternoon of 10 July 2018, the colloquium themed “Dispute Resolution in M&A Transactions” jointly organized by the China Mergers & Acquisitions Association (the “CMAA”) and the Beijing Arbitration Commission / Beijing International Arbitration Center (the “BAC”) was successfully hosted at the BAC international conference hall along with the CMAA and BAC strategic cooperation signing ceremony. Mr. Li Qiang, Director of Labor Relationship Division of Legal Dept. of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (the “ACFIC”), Mr. Wei Lidong, President of the CMAA, Mr. Wang Wei, Founding President of the CMAA, Mr. Liu Honglu, Counsel of the CMAA, Mr. Dong Guixin, Secretary General of the CMAA, Mr. Lin Zhiwei, Secretary General of the BAC, Dr. Chen Fuyong, Deputy Secretary General of the BAC, Mr. Zhang Haoliang, Director of the BAC, and Ms. Shi Cuijun, Arbitrator of the BAC were present. More than 100 professionals of M&A and dispute resolution attended this event as audience.
The colloquium
With the strategic and structural adjustment of the state-owned economy and the diversification of market players, economic activities represented by M&A have been increasingly seen, and disputes concerning M&A have been on the increase accordingly. Disputes arising from M&A transactions have numerous symptoms, multiple parties, and diversified interest demands, and thus M&A firms have growing requirement for professional and efficient dispute resolution mechanism. Through their future cooperation, the CMAA and the BAC expect to provide a professional and efficient dispute resolution platform for M&A transactions, and improve the healthy development of the M&A market.
The colloquium was moderated by Mr. Zhang Xiaosen, who is an Executive Director and Director of Legal Committee of the CMAA, and also works as a BAC arbitrator. At the beginning of the colloquium, Mr. Lin Zhiwei, Secretary General of the BAC, Mr. Wei Lidong, President of the CMAA, and Mr. Li Qiang, Director from the ACFIC, delivered speeches successively.
Mr. Zhang Xiaosen
Mr. Lin Zhiwei expressed welcome to all the attendees, and showed his high anticipation of the cooperation with the CMAA in the future. Mr. Lin stressed that the BAC and the CMAA would have a long-term cooperation on the basis of complementary advantages, and starting from this signing ceremony, conduct in-depth cooperation within the sector of M&A dispute resolution and promote the development of M&A industry.
Mr. Lin Zhiwei
Mr. Wei Lidong said that the CMAA responds to the call of the ACFIC, and positively promotes the ADR development in M&A transactions such as mediation and arbitration. He looks forward to the establishment of an effective connection between people’s mediation and institutional arbitration, and the diversification of M&A dispute resolution, which will provide the parties in M&A disputes with more qualified and professional services.
Mr. Wei Lidong
Mr. Li Qiang said that the ACFIC always sticks to the idea of “commercial disputes to be resolved commercially”, and accordingly positively promotes the development of commercial mediation and arbitration. He hoped that with the constant growth of chamber of commerce construction and the deepening of arbitration reform, the BAC and the CMAA will enjoy a bigger development space for their cooperation.
Mr. Li Qiang
Following the speeches, the signing ceremony was held. Mr. Dong Guixin and Mr. Lin Zhiwei signed the cooperation agreement as witnessed by the attendees. This marked the start of continuous and in-depth cooperation between the two partners in various ways such as the building of M&A dispute resolution mechanism, the construction of M&A dispute resolution training system and the initiation of M&A dispute resolution studies.
CMAA – BAC Strategic Cooperation Signing Ceremony
As one of the key fruits of their cooperation, the BAC and the CMAA jointly released their model clause for M&A dispute resolution during the colloquium. Mr. Zhang Haoliang, Director of the BAC Business Development Division (International Case Division), published the model clause and presented an introduction of the application thereof. Mr. Zhang said that the model clause is a start point of the CMAA and the BAC’s joint endeavor in building a professional and efficient dispute resolution environment, and the two partners will further promote the industrial practice, protect the interests of parties involved in M&A transactions, and provide the parties with high-level dispute resolution services.
Mr. Zhang Haoliang
Next to the signing ceremony, the colloquium convened. Mr. Wang Wei of the CMAA delivered a speech themed “M&A Arbitration”. He reviewed the birth of the CMAA and the development of M&A transactions in China, and then shared the advantages of resolving M&A disputes through arbitration and mediation with the audience, looking forward to working closely with the BAC to overcome future challenges, and creating new orders with the guidance of the values of marketization, globalization and modernization.
Mr. Wang Wei
With a theme “Experience of Dealing with M&A Disputes through Arbitration”, Dr. Chen Fuyong presented an introduction of the BAC’s experience in dealing with M&A disputes. He firstly clarified the concept of dispute resolution, interpreting the relationship between arbitration and mediation and the role of arbitration institutions. Thereafter, he shared the caseload of M&A disputes filed with and concluded by the BAC, as well as their disputed amounts and the proportion of withdrawal and mediation. At last, Dr. Chen analyzed the advantages of resolving M&A disputes through arbitration based on the features of arbitration such as confidentiality, professionalism, enforceability and procedural flexibility, and stressed that the BAC will stay to its original dream and spare no effort to provide more efficient and professional dispute resolution services to its clients.
Dr. Chen Fuyong
Thereafter, Ms. Shi Cuijun, Arbitrator of the BAC and Legal Director of Total China / Total Enterprise Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd. gave a speech on “Dispute Resolution in M&A Transactions”. She firstly summarized those frequently seen dispute types within the M&A area such as disputes over clauses’ binding effect, confidentiality and payment, and on this ground unveiled why resolution of M&A disputes through arbitration, especially at domestic arbitration institutions, will be highly in line with the requirement of M&A disputes because of the professionalism of adjudicators and the enforceability of awards, and provide the parties with more market-oriented and easier-to-be-enforced arbitral awards.
Ms. Shi Cuijun
During the Q&A session, the audience had a warm exchange with the speakers, where they had an in-depth exchange on emergency measures, selection of arbitrators, shares owned by juveniles in M&A transactions in arbitration.
Questions from the audience
Exchange between speakers and audience
When M&A transactions are experiencing quick growth and playing an increasingly important role in economy, the construction of M&A dispute resolution mechanism has attracted more and more attentions. The BAC expects to build such a dispute resolution mechanism through its in-depth cooperation with the CMAA, and invite senior experts within the M&A area to share their experience, providing opportunities of exchange to M&A practitioners and summing up the lessons, and thereby promote the M&A development in China. The BAC sincerely welcome colleagues interested in M&A and diversified dispute resolution to continue to pay attention to and participate in various colloquia and seminars organized by the BAC. For more information, please see the BAC’s website and WeChat platform.