Read our latest coverage on the scramble to get American law firms — and lawyers — into China.
“You really need professional legal help on the ground,” he said. “Somebody who’s lived and breathed the system � not just somebody who can look up the rules.”
Unkovic added that it also helped that UCBH is an experienced acquirer: Squire, Sanders has counseled the company in its pending purchase of The Chinese American Bank in New York, its purchase last year of Summit National Bank in Atlanta and the 2005 acquisition of Seattle’s Pacifica Bank. “It’s a company that knows what it’s doing; very directed, clear objectives, decisive, and knows the market,” he said. “When a client knows what it’s doing, it makes everything easier.”
Assisting in the deal were San Francisco partner David Kenny, San Francisco associate Miharu Furihata and Palo Alto associate David Saltzman.
Representing the Charoen Pokphand Group, which sold its stake in Shanghai’s Business Development Bank to UCB, was a group of O’Melveny & Myers lawyers based in Shanghai.
� Petra Pasternak
