In-house life
As director of the project management division and legal department at China National Offshore Oil Corporation [CNOOC], Leslie Zhang has presided over some sizeable transactions – not least the company’s $15.1BN acquisition of Nexen Inc.
My team primarily provides legal services to the largest-scale commercial transactions, bond and securities issues, divestitures, joint ventures and M&A. There’s obviously an imperative to avoid litigation, or situations that could lead to the potential for litigation. CNOOC considers a huge number of opportunities, so we get exposed to many potentially high-profile deals, but we only look at about 5% of all the opportunities we’re offered seriously.
The increase in outbound investments brings different challenges for in-house counsel in China. A company like CNOOC will carefully study what kinds of risks they will face in the country where they plan to make their investment – such as systemic risks, geopolitical risks, forex [foreign exchange] controls, or any potential risk of the nationalisation of the target.
