What kind of spark can the cooperation between financial institutions and law firms create, besides due diligence and litigation? On December 16, 2018, the Dentons Special Financial Assets Legal Summit & CIB ▪ Dentons Special Assets Investment Fair, successfully held at the Hilton Fuzhou Hotel, provided a perfect answer to this question. The event not only reflected Dentons' active pursuit of upgrade in the field of special asset legal services, but also was an innovative initiative of the Industrial Bank (CIB) and China Industrial Asset Management Co., Ltd. (CIAMC) to hold asset promotion seminar together with a national law firm.
Mr. Fang Zhiyong, General Manager of Special Assets Management Department of CIB, Mr. Wang Jun, Director of Dentons Beijing Management Committee, and Mr. Ye Zhiwei, Head of Dentons Fuzhou office, attended the meeting as guests. Mr. Bu Xiangrui, Chief Legal Adviser of China Banking Association, Mr. Guo Jiequn, expert of Tsinghua National Institute of Finance Research, Eggert Matthias, partner of Dentons Europe, Mr. Wang Lihong, senior partner of Dentons China, and Mr. Zhang Yu and Mr. Liang Minhai, partners of Ernst & Young (China), were invited to discuss the disposal experience of special financial assets and the difficulties and hot issues. As a senior expert and professional in the non-performing asset industry, Mr. Ping Yunwang, director of Dentons' Finance professional committee, started a roundtable discussion with the guests and discussed the issues of general concern in the industry, shared his experience of special asset disposal, and envisioned the future opportunities and challenges in this field.
In fact, Dentons has been actively seeking change. Just one day before the conference, the Dentons Special Financial Assets Research Institute was formally established. The organization is positioned as a non-profit research institution. Based on our wide presence in China, the institute will horizontally integrate special asset disposal teams to build and operate a nationwide special asset disposal network. The institute will focus on developing new channels for the whole industry service chain of special assets – "raising, investment, management and exit" – to continuously meet the needs of the market.
Lu Haifeng, the executive dean of the institute, said that Dentons will strive to accurately push the asset package and facilitate the transaction through the comprehensive due diligence of the special assets and understanding of the investors at the early stage, and assist investors to complete the successful withdrawal of funds and achieve a win-win situation for all parties at the later stage.
CIB and CIAMC also attached great importance to the influence of Dentons in the whole country. They specially selected 111 debt assets, with a total loan principal of RMB9.4 billion (the principal and interest totaled RMB12.3 billion). More than 90% of the loans included in this package have commercial, residential, and industrial real estate as collateral, and the collateral is distributed in various urban areas of Fujian Province, the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, Chongqing, Chengdu, and Kunming. The due diligence service for these asset projects were provided by Dentons.
This conference not only attracted a number of investment institutions, but also attracted Alibaba's attention. Nearly 100 investment institutions, including CIB's four major asset management companies, local asset management companies and social investors, also participated in the fair. Investors enthusiastically exchanged ideas and showed great interest in investment. CIB selected 15 key assets for on-site promotion, allowing investors to better understand the potential investment value of assets.
The event set up a communication platform for the investors in the special asset markets, promoted communication and cooperation, and realized a more reasonable resource allocation. Furthermore, it showcased the great brand appeal of CIB and Dentons in the special asset industry. The success of this event not only opened a new chapter for the cooperation between CIB and Dentons, but also will become an example for the service enhancement of financial institutions and law firms.