Allen & Overy has advised China Construction Bank (CCB), the second largest bank in the world based on market value, on the set up of its European base in Luxembourg. CCB is the third Chinese bank to establish a base in Luxembourg after Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
The firm’s Luxembourg team was led and co-ordinated by Henri Wagner, managing partner of the Luxembourg office, assisted by senior associate Anne-George Kuzuhara and trainee Clémence Igot who advised on the regulatory aspects of the matter. The firm’s Beijing team was led by regulatory partner Jane Jiang, who ensured effective communication with the client and also contributed to the problem solving process.
Given the broad scope of the project, there were a number of other Allen & Overy teams involved from Luxembourg including partner Fabian Beullekens who led on corporate matters, partner André Marc on immigration, labour law and real-estate, and partner Patrick Mischo on tax.
The project, which completed within eight months, has helped the firm strengthen its relationships with the CSSF (Luxembourg’s financial supervision authority), the Luxembourg Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister, all of whom met with CCB in 2012 to discuss this important move.
This work is an excellent demonstration of Allen & Overy’s ability to deliver specialist expertise across both practice and geographic lines. It saw our Luxembourg team working closely with partner Jane Jiang in Beijing to win the mandate and, going forward, these teams will be looking to strengthen further the relationship with CCB in Luxembourg, in Beijing and via the firm’s Luxembourg desk in Hong Kong which is run by associate Nicolas Papavoine.
