On September 7th, 2015, Cathay Associates Kejie, a leading Chinese boutique law firm, announced to ally with 13 international law firms to form Cathay Associates, a global legal service network that aims to provide crossjurisdictional legal services to Chinese enterprises with global strategies.

Against the backdrop of China’s Go Abroad Policy, One Belt-and-One Road Initiative and the rapidinternationalization of the Renminbi, more Chinese enterprises are implementing more pro-active global strategies with ever-increasing outbound direct investment and merger and acquisition activities. The establishment of Cathay Associates is to support such enterprises to navigate seamlessly in the local legal and policy environment in successfully implementing their global strategies.

With around 700 headcount worldwide, the first 14 members of Cathay Associates, including Kejie as the main initiator, locate in 20 major cities of Europe and Asia including Barcelona, Beijing, Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Chisinau, Kuala Lumpur, Madrid, Paris, Podgorica, Prague, Pristina, Shanghai, Sofia, Tirana, Valetta, Vienna, Warsaw and Zagreb.

The goal of Cathay Associates is to expand the number of member firms to 40 by the end of 2016, covering major countries and regions across the five continents. New member firms will come from Bombay, Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jakarta and Singapore in Asia; Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Milan and Moscow in Europe; Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, San Francisco and Toronto in North America; Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo in South America; Johannesburg and Maputo in Africa and Melbourne, Sydney and Wellington in Oceania.

All member firms of Cathay Associates are boutique law firms similar to Kejie. With a clear focus on the commercial field and particularly on M&A, financing and investment, Kejie has built a reputation for handling complicated and challenging cases at home and abroad, such as the acquisition of Volvo by Geely Group (US$1.8billion), the strategic investment in Sino-Ocean Land by China Life (HK$5.8 billion), Zhong De Securities (a joint venture investment bank established by Deutsche Bank AG and Shanxi Securities Co., Ltd), the IPO of Sino-Ocean Property in Hong Kong (US$ 1.7 billion) and China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund.

Each of the member firms will provide legal services to the Cathay Associates clients under the brand - “柯杰 Cathay Associates”.

With a global management committee being set up, Cathay Associates will provide integrative services and support to all its member firms in branding, marketing and business development. Mr. He Jie, the managing partner of Kejie, will serve as Global Chairman of Cathay Associates as well as the global management committee. Mr. Rupert Varnai and Mr. Pascal Demko, the two European initiators who are also the foreign legal counsel of Kejie, will serve as Global Chief Executive Officer and Global Managing Partner, respectively.

Mr. He Jie said: “With so many highly professional law firms joining us, Cathay Associates will make an ideal global legal service network to support those ambitious Chinese enterprises with global expansion strategies.”

Cathay Associates

Cathay Associates (“柯杰全球法律联盟” in Chinese) is a global legal service network initiated by Kejie Law Office, a leading Chinese boutique law firm and two European partners in September, 2015. It has 14 high-profile boutique law firms with around 700 headcount worldwide. The first 14 members of Cathay Associates come from 20 major cities across Europe and Asia including Barcelona, Beijing, Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Chisinau, Kuala Lumpur, Madrid, Paris, Podgorica, Prague, Pristina, Shanghai, Sofia, Tirana, Valetta, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb.

The goal of Cathay Associates is to expand the number of member firms to 40 by the end of 2016, covering major countries and regions across the five continents. New member firms will come from Bombay, Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jakarta and Singapore in Asia; Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Milan and Moscow in Europe; Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, San Francisco and Toronto in North America; Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo in South America; Johannesburg and Maputo in Africa; and Melbourne, Sydney and Wellington in Oceania.

If you want to know more about Cathay Associates, please visit http://cathayassociates.com.

Why Cathay Associates?

Against the backdrop of China’s Go Abroad Policy, One Belt-and-One Road Initiative and the rapid internationalization of the Renminbi, Chinese enterprises are implementing more aggressive global strategies.  Evidently, China’s outbound direct investment and merger and acquisition activities have risen exponentially in the past decade. They demonstrate increased sophistication in capturing commercial opportunities abroad and exercise good judgment of technologies and industry trends. One of the critical elements in successfully implementing their global strategy is the ability to navigate seamlessly in the local legal and policy environment.

By creating a global legal service network, Cathay Associates aims at providing cross-jurisdictional legal services to Chinese enterprises with ambitious global strategies.

Mission

Our mission is to provide cross-jurisdictional legal services to Chinese enterprises with global expansion strategies and to be a bridge between China and rest of the world.

Band

Each of the member firms will provide legal services to the Cathay Associates clients under the brand “柯杰 Cathay Associates”. Cathay Associates will provide integrative services and support to all its member firms in branding, marketing and business development.

Cathay Associates will have a global management committee, which is in charge of Cathay Associates’ management and operations. Mr. He Jie, the managing partner of Kejie Law Office, will serve as Global Chairman of Cathay Associates as well as the global management committee. Mr. Rupert Varnai and Mr. Pascal Demko, the two European initiators who are also the foreign legal counsel of Kejie Law Office, will serve as Global Chief Executive Officer and Global Managing Partner, respectively.