About

Described by a nominator as ‘technically sound with strong business skills to boot’, head of legal at China Orient Asset Management (International) Holding Jin Zhai has oversight of all of the legal, risk and compliance aspects of the Chinese asset management company’s operations. As the overseas platform of one of the major state owned asset management companies, China Orient International manages a wide range of investments in private equity, financing, M&A, investment funds, private investment in public companies, public market securities and structured products in China and overseas, and cross border transactions. The legal team provides support to the business teams, and assists senior management with corporate governance and general corporate matters. In carrying out those duties, the team has developed the ability to understand the commercial points and spot key issues quickly. The team contains three lawyers and one corporate secretary, with the head of legal, one lawyer and the corporate secretary based in Hong Kong, and one lawyer located in Beijing. The lawyers in the team deal with a wide range of legal matters, while the corporate secretary manages all daily corporate matters for the company and its subsidiaries and special purpose vehicles. Under heightened regulatory control and in light of a tighter market environment, the legal team has faced many challenges and changes in the last two years. One of the most important changes is to assist the management and business team in shifting the focus of the business to expand the investments in alternative and distressed assets. Another important change is the increase in the number of litigations and regulatory issues with the team recently being involved in a number of significant cases and transactions. One example is the restructuring of a US$400m investment related to a Hong Kong listed company, including equity and debt and also involving both Hong Kong and mainland China companies and assets. Furthermore the team has also been managing a couple of high profile and high stake litigations in multiple jurisdictions. Zhai regards her team as ‘an extremely versatile team that efficiently supports a broad range of transactions with a “can do” attitude and business oriented mind-set’. ‘For a small team, efficiency is the key. The team utilises outside counsel in documentation work while focusing on deal structuring, legal analysis, negotiation and execution’, Zhai says.