March 12, 2010 — A leading Asian legal magazine Asian-Counsel, recently announced its annual Deals of the Year for 2009 with two major projects led by V&E's China practice receiving awards. The recognized deals are Sinopec International’s acquisition of Addax Petroleum Corporation and Shougang/BeijingWest Industries’ acquisition of Delphi Corporation’s automobile parts business. Winning deals were selected on the basis of innovation, complexity, size, and uniqueness and are among the top 30 deals closed in Asia in 2009. Asian-Counsel received more than 800 deal submissions for the 2009 awards.

Sinopec International's acquisition of Addax Petroleum Corporation
In one of the most prominent energy M&A transactions in 2009, partners Paul Deemer and David Blumental led a V&E team from five offices in the C$10.3 billion takeover of Addax Petroleum Corporation (listed on the Toronto and London Stock Exchanges). This deal is the largest overseas energy acquisition done by a Chinese company to date and Sinopec described it as a “transformational transaction” which would “enable it to achieve its strategic objective[s]” and “accelerating its international growth strategy.” The V&E team also included London partners Francois Feuillat who assisted on international securities issues and Alex Msimang, and Tokyo partner James Atkin.

Shougang/BeijingWest Industries' acquisition of Delphi Corporation's automobile parts business
V&E China practice partners Xiao Yong and Paul Deemer led a cross-office team in the representation of Chinese state-owned steel company Capital Iron & Steel Company (Shougang) and subsequently its joint venture company, BeijingWest Industries Co. Ltd. (BWI), in connection with the successful acquisition by BWI of Delphi Corporation’s global suspension and brakes business. U.S.-based Delphi Corporation is the former automobile parts subsidiary of General Motors and has been under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since 2005. This is the first deal involving a Chinese state-owned company’s acquisition of U.S. assets under the Obama administration that was granted CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) approval. Our cross-border team included Washington, DC partners William Vigdor and Dave Johnson on U.S. trade regulation, CFIUS and antitrust matters, Dallas partner Bill Wallander on U.S. bankruptcy matters, and a team of lawyers from Beijing, London, Houston, and Hong Kong.