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Foreign Direct Investment

Foreign Direct Investment

 
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    Our Foreign Direct Investment group includes those who are fluent in Mandarin Chinese and understand the business cultures in both the U.S. and China. From food distributors to pharmaceutical giants, we are able to serve a broad range of foreign-based clients seeking U.S. representation for their demanding legal needs.

    Our Clients

    Our Foreign Direct Investment group is a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys with specific experience assisting Chinese companies in doing business with the U.S.

    What We Do

    From corporate transactions and mergers and acquisitions to complex litigation, we deliver high-quality services in key areas that are necessary for any foreign-based company to succeed in the U.S. market. Hill Wallack LLP has extensive experience in the following areas:

    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Venture Capital & Emerging Markets
    • Banking & Finance 
    • Business & Commercial Services
    • Corporate Structuring & Operations
    • Land Use & Environmental
    • Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Renewable Energy
    • Immigration

    Reflecting the firm’s cross-disciplinary approach, our team is able to draw on the resources of the breadth of Hill Wallack LLP’s practice areas, enabling us to provide comprehensive, cost-effective solutions.

    Mergers & Acquisitions

    Hill Wallack LLP’s attorneys have extensive experience in acquisitions and divestitures involving both public and privately-held entities, including mergers, acquisitions and dispositions of assets, stock sales and exchanges, acquisitions and dispositions of corporate, limited liability entities, partnership interests and joint venture interests, tender offers, recapitalizations and other similar transactions.

    Hill Wallack LLP takes a team approach to its mergers and acquisitions practice, drawing on various specialties within the firm and staffing a transaction with the minimum number of lawyers with appropriate experience to complete the project in a timely manner.

    Every corporate transaction demands the right structure, careful risk analysis and forward planning to deliver value and convince the market that the deal makes sense. The finance, tax, employment and intellectual property requirements must be aligned with the strategic objectives of the deal.

     

    Hill Wallack LLP attorneys are aware that major transactions can be disruptive to the operations of a company. Accordingly, we are committed to conducting our representation so that the time devoted to a transaction can be minimized.

    Our clients include publicly-traded companies and numerous privately held companies, some of which are backed by venture capital investors. Hill Wallack LLP represents both sellers and purchasers of businesses in these transactions.

    We counsel clients on transaction structure and legal terms, assist in the negotiation of the transaction, prepare documents to effect the transaction and handle closings. We advise on issues involving laws relevant to the transaction.

    An acquisition may require the formation of a new business entity. We counsel clients on all aspects of organizing a new company, including alternative business structures, issuance of stock or other equity to founders, buy-sell, voting or other agreements among owners and employment agreements and employee incentive arrangements.

    In view of our extensive experience, we are familiar with the requirements of senior lenders and subordinated debt investors, and can anticipate these requirements during negotiations so that the preparation of transaction documents includes representations, warranties and covenants that are acceptable to lenders, placement agents and underwriters.

    Venture Capital and Emerging Markets 

    Hill Wallack LLP provides a full range of legal services to the venture capital and emerging market communities. Representing private emerging growth companies that seek financing as well as angel investors, our attorneys are experienced in all phases of the venture capital process, from incorporation, business plan preparation, seed and angel investor financing, venture capital investment, intellectual property protection, employment matters, strategic relationships, business combinations and eventual exit by acquisition or initial public offering.  In representing investors, we have formed venture capital funds and assisted fund investors in making portfolio company investments and advising in the sale of venture-backed companies.

    Our attorneys understand the dynamics of emerging and hi-growth companies, and provide counsel to management teams and investors concerning legal issues that are critical to their business decisions. Our representation of cutting-edge life sciences and high-tech companies allows us to stay informed of developing market trends and assist our clients in making the appropriate connections necessary to grow their start-ups or investments.  We strive to develop an understanding of the economics and business realities of each deal so we can strike a balance between obtaining appropriate terms and cultivating quality, long-term relationships between venture capital investors and the emerging growth in which they invest.  We strive to maintain this balance while helping our venture capital investor and emerging growth company clients with the successful completion of their financing transactions.

    Banking and Financial Services

    Hill Wallack LLP represents a broad range of financial institutions, including UBS AG, TD Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Amboy Bank, Crown Bank, First Bank, First Choice Bank, the Bank of Princeton, Sovereign Bank, Santander Bank, and Sun National Bank, in all aspects of loan transactions, including asset and real estate-based financing and complex lending arrangements. Hill Wallack LLP has an experienced team that provides aggressive and immediate legal strategies necessary to maximize client recovery when they are faced with troubled assets, bankruptcies, foreclosures, restructuring and litigation.  Our attorneys draw upon each other, working in an interdisciplinary fashion to ensure clients receive optimum results in the most efficient way.

     

    Life Sciences

    The Life Sciences Practice Group at Hill Wallack LLP focuses on the comprehensive representation of established and start-up Life Science companies. Leveraging Hill Wallack’s other practice areas to ensure a comprehensive team, the Life Sciences group provides representation in connection with intellectual property, technology transfer and university spin-outs, venture capital and finance, regulatory and compliance, and mergers and acquisitions.

    Complex Litigation

    Our Complex Litigation Practice Group is not only experienced in handling complex cross-border litigation from pleadings to trial but also have the cross-cultural background to concisely communicate complicated and distinctive legal concepts in the United States.

    In this globalized economy, our attorneys assist our clients in pre-litigation risk analysis and liabilities exposure before issues emerge in the cross-border transactions. When litigation is inevitable, we stand firmly behind you to protect your investments and ensure your success.

    Employment and Labor Issues

    An efficient, productive and talented work force is crucial to the success of every business. The Employment & Labor Law Practice Group at Hill Wallack LLP assists management and human resource personnel in preventing and, where necessary, defending against employee claims. Through heavy employment practice and constant attention to developments in the law, our attorneys provide quality representation in this complicated and complex field of law.

    We also understand the importance of implementing and enforcing the employee policies of international companies operating in the United States. Our immigration practice helps China-based clients obtain work visas for their executives and employees to come to the United States to perform their duties.

    Intellectual Property

    Many foreign-based clients invest in the United States because of its highly advanced infrastructure of research, science, and technology. Our group includes an attorney who is fluent in Mandarin, which allows us to effectively communicate with our foreign-based clients on important IP issues, complex technologies, and strategy. We represent clients in the following areas:

    • IP litigation in federal courts and the U.S. International Trade Commission
    • Pre-litigation dispute resolution and risk analysis relating to IP issues
    • Trade secret protection and technology development
    • Trademark infringement/non-infringement opinion letters
    • Trademark evaluation and registration
    • IP licensing and assignment
    • Cease and desist letters

    We have a results-oriented and cost-effective approach to best protect our clients’ IP rights and maximize their interest.

     

    Real Estate

    Our Real Estate Practice Group represents all segments of the Real Estate Industry including developers, investors, landlords, tenants, lenders and borrowers. Our attorneys have vast experience in all areas of real estate development, redevelopment, investment, leasing and lending. We consider the client's business needs and objectives in recommending a legal strategy that most efficiently accomplishes our clients’ goals.

    We provide effective representation in all aspects of the real estate project, such as:

    • Financing, acquisition and leasing
    • Zoning, construction and disposition
    • Environmental permitting
    • Land use approvals
    • Redevelopment
    • Property management
    • Property tax appeals

    Renewable Energy and Sustainability

    Hill Wallack LLP’s Renewable Energy and Sustainability Group is experienced in counseling clients on incentive programs and navigating new rules and regulations in the realm of renewable energy. The group includes attorneys with extensive experience and backgrounds in real estate, land use, transactional, environmental, corporate, regulatory, tax and project finance matters.

    We have hands-on experience working with top Chinese law firms in representing Chinese investors of major solar projects in in New Jersey. We are well-positioned to meet the needs of clients on solar & wind projects, green building and finance, and federal and state carbon trading and greenhouse gas programs and incentives.

    Immigration & Naturalization

    In today’s global economy, immigration is an issue that touches every business, especially in New Jersey, which is home to diverse industries and populations.

    Hill Wallack LLP’s Immigration & Naturalization group assists companies and individuals with a variety of employment-related matters, including immigrant visas for professionals, persons with specialized knowledge and outstanding research abilities, and foreign direct investors.

    We have experience to meet the needs of clients on a broad range of immigration matters, such as those listed below:

    • Business visas (H1-B, E-1, E-2, EB-5, L-1, TN)
    • Green cards
    • Adjustment of status
    • Citizenship
    • Consular processing

    At Hill Wallack LLP our attorneys go beyond advising on the law to help create the solutions that enable our clients to meet their goals. This approach is particularly vital in the area of immigration law, which is closely associated with labor and employment issues.

    Our Immigration & Naturalization group includes attorneys who are fluent in Mandarin Chinese and understand the business cultures in both the U.S. and Asia.

    Representative Matters

    • Represented angel investors and venture capital firms in funding a variety of start-up companies in the areas of biomedical engineering, material science, sensor technology, and drug discovery. Our attorneys conducted due diligence, drafted transactional documents, negotiated with company founders, and managed transaction closings.
    • Advised a major Chinese agrochemical company in its acquisition of a well-known U.S. formulator and distributor of agricultural chemicals located in Minnesota.  Our attorneys conducted due diligence, negotiated and structured the transaction, and drafted the transactional documents.
    • Counsel to an international biotech company on a broad spectrum of legal matters in its cross-border operations in both China and the U.S. The company is a leading contract research organization providing services in drug discovery with over 600 employees worldwide. Our attorneys advised the company on issues in intellectual property, employment law, corporate law, and litigation in support of their global operations.
    • Represented a major Chinese state-owned entity in connection with its acquisition of a large solar farm. The proposed solar farm, rated at 10 megawatts and to be built on 102 acres of land, involved complex regulatory requirements. Our attorneys advised our international clients concerning the corporate transaction, municipal, county and state land use and environmental approvals associated with the project.
    • Represented a major Chinese state owned entity in connection with its efforts to acquire a solar company seeking to develop one of the largest solar farms in the State of New Jersey. The purpose of the $39 million transaction was to facilitate its construction of a 12 megawatt solar farm. Our attorneys conducted due diligence associated with the corporate transaction and advised the clients concerning the municipal, county and state land use and environmental approvals associated with the project.
    • Represented a Chinese-owned entity in its acquisition of a research and development firm in sensor technology with potential applications in geophysics, transportation, consumer products, and military uses. Our attorneys conducted due diligence and advised on structuring the transaction and other related matters.
    • Represented several Chinese private entities in incorporating subsidiary and/or affiliated entities in New Jersey in order to integrate their marketing and distribution operations in the U.S. The legal services included corporate structuring, employment law, immigration issues, and commercial and business law.
    • Represented a major Chinese household appliance manufacturer in breach of contract litigation in the federal courts involving the laws of three separate countries in Asia.