ABBL

The economic relations between the Asia Pacific region and the rest of the world have strongly developed in recent years, if not exploded with the 2008 economic crisis having acted as an accelerator of a shift of global economic powers from West to East. The increasing importance of the Asian markets and the ties to Europe have been confirmed in the research for our 50 Degrees East campaign effectuated earlier this year.

We have surveyed over 1000 global business leaders in 19 countries to understand the issues they are grappling with as the global economy comes to terms with a shift of power from developed to emerging economies, particularly in Asia Pacific. The findings are distilled into three consecutive reports (www.50degreeseast.com):

• The first report "Opportunities and challenges" explores business confidence, threats to the global economic recovery, and the shifting balance of economic power, as well as business leaders' plans for future growth and the barriers to entry that may inhibit these. The survey also demonstrates how perceived barriers to market entry could prevent developing market economies from capitalising on their growing economic influence.
• The second report "Under pressure: Funding options in an uncertain world" takes an in-depth look into the views of global business leaders and the economic power shift from developed economies to emerging markets, particularly in Asia Pacific.
• The third report "Risk and regulation: Harnessing or constraining business potential?" examines how the perceived shift in economic power from the West to the East may affect the risks that large multinational businesses face and the forces that may shape the regulations governing their operations around the world.

We have witnessed a growing appetite from the Asian financial and business community wishing to target European investors and invest in Europe through Luxembourg. Conversely, European investors are eager to do business with and to invest in Asia. In response to the potential business opportunities in the area, we have established a Luxembourg desk in our Hong Kong office and associate Nicolas Papavoine has recently relocated to Hong Kong to take charge of the desk. He will be working closely with partner Alan Ewins in Hong Kong and partner Marc Feider in Luxembourg, with an objective to service the Asia-Pacific region by fostering cross-border exchanges, whether inbound or outbound, between the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. Nicolas will also work closely with our nine existing offices in this region: Bangkok, Jakarta, Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shangai, Tokyo, Perth and Sydney as well as with the offices of our best friend Trilegal in India.

Marc Feider, Senior Partner of Allen & Overy Luxembourg comments: "Luxembourg is one of the most important gateways to Europe. It also has unique features to credibly position itself as a privileged international platform to attract Asian investments and to help it structure international investment streams. Bringing our combined Asia-Pacific and Luxembourg expertise on-site will create a lot of dual-way opportunities and a perfect match between client expectations and our provision of seamless legal services".

The other members of the desk from Luxembourg are Marc Feider, Jean-Christian Six, Investment Funds Partner and from Hong Kong Thomas Brown, Managing Partner Asia-Pacific and Alan Ewins, Corporate Partner.

On 8 December, Allen & Overy Hong Kong will host an event organised by the Faculty of Law, Economies & Finance of the University of Luxembourg in partnership with the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong. This joint event will focus on legal issues in fund distribution.

(Source: Allen & Overy)