David Chen

Practice Areas

• Outbound Mergers & Acquisitions

• Foreign Direct Investment

• Private Equity & Investment Funds

• International Trade & Compliance

• Commercial Arbitration & Civil Litigation

Career

Wei (David) Chen is Head of Cross-Border Transactions and based at the firm’s Beijing office. With extensive experience in outbound mergers and acquisitions and foreign direct investment, Mr. Chen has built a reputation as one of China’s most distinguished cross-border transactional lawyers. He advises leading state-owned enterprises, investment funds, and multinational corporations.

Mr. Chen has emerged as a key figure in Africa’s mining deal community in China. He served as the chief editor of the authoritative Legal Guide to Foreign Investment, M&A, and Mining in African Countries (2024), published in conjunction with the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). During the summit, he led the firm’s efforts to engage with visiting African delegations and co-hosted two high-profile business forums in Beijing with the Embassy of Namibia and the Embassy of Côte d'Ivoire. The Namibia forum featured His Excellency Nangolo Mbumba, President of Namibia, while the Côte d'Ivoire forum was keynoted by His Excellency Tiémoko Meyliet Koné, Vice President of Côte d'Ivoire.

Work Highlights

Mining M&A:

- Sinomine Resource Group on its USD 49 million acquisition of the Tsumeb Smelter in Namibia including transaction structuring, due diligence, and negotiations.

- Yintai Gold on its CAD 368 million acquisition of Osino Resources in Namibia, providing end-to-end legal services, and outbidding a competing bidder.

- Private investor in the acquisition of a stake in th first industrial scale gold mine in Djibouti.

Foreign Investment & Market Entry:

- Argentine bank on opening a representative office in Beijing.

- Algerian bank in establishing a bank branch in Shanghai.

- Argentine agricultural company in sweeping regulatory changes starting in 2023 the field of genetically modfied soybeans to foreign investment

Outbound Foreign Investment:

-Chinese battery manufacturer in a consortium to establish a battery factory in the US, involving extensive regulatory analysis as the scope of the Inflation Reduction Act for partially Chinese-owned ventures was being defined.

-Chinese battery manufacturer in assessing the feasibility of establishing a factory in Hungary.

-Chinese cement company in the restructuring and acquisition of a bankrupt East African cement company, including transaction structuring and relaunch planning.

Technology & Semiconductor M&A:

- Citic Guoan on its participation as lead investor in the privatization of Nasdaq-listed Qihoo 360 Technologies. The total transaction was valued at approximately $9.3 billion.

- Investement firm on its participation in a consortium acquiring all outstanding shares of Nasdaq-listed Integrated Silicon Solution Inc.

- JAC Capital on its acquisition of the RF Power Business from Nasdaq-listed NXP Semiconductors. The deal was valued at $1.8 billion

Publications

Mr. Chen has served as the chief editor of three compendium publications on M&A and foreign investment, with a particular focus on the mining sector. Each publication provides an overview of investment frameworks in a number of jurisdictions, offering Chinese investors authoritative guidance on market entry and M&A. Each edition compiles expert contributions from top law firms in the respective jurisdictions, structured around a legal questionnaire.

2022: Legal Guide to Foreign Investment and M&A in RCEP Member States, covering the investment regimes across all Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries (Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam).

2023: Legal Guide to Foreign Investment and M&A in 12 Latin American Countries, featuring insights from leading law firms in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

2024: Legal Guide to Foreign Investment, M&A, and Mining in African Countries, analyzing the legal perspective of M&A and mining investments in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Awards