Our Practice Areas:
International Trade, Investment and Privatizations
Our Expertise
PARKWOOD PARTNERS™, and its affiliates, specialize in the development of emerging and frontier markets. We offer more than twenty years of hands-on experience in over fifty countries, in guiding clients thorough the complexities of investing and operating in such markets.
PARKWOOD opened an affiliated office in Romania in 2003 from which its professionals expanded their practice, first into South-East Europe across several practice areas, and then globally to Latin America, Asia and Africa. This early introduction to emerging markets has provided its team of professionals with experience working with enterprises in many regions throughout the world on a variety of matters. Their expertise is complemented by the experience of PARKWOOD professionals in other related practice groups, as well as professionals in affiliated offices on three continents and a network of experienced practitioners with offices in over 180 countries. PARKWOOD is constantly investing in its capability to provide its clients with both comprehensive advice and strong execution in these dynamic markets.
Even when transactions in emerging markets have the same basic structure, specific execution can be far more complex due to legal, regulatory, cultural and political differences that require knowledge and understanding of the local landscape. Our depth and wealth of experience in structuring and executing complex transactions in unusual places and managing local advisory firms enables our clients to navigate their way through the sometimes-uncharted waters of emerging markets with confidence.
There is no substitute for having a team with a sophisticated understanding of the client’s business and industry. Among the industries with which our professionals have significant experience are:
- Agricultural Equipment Manufacturing and Distribution
- Automotive
- Banks and Financial Institutions
- Natural gas
- Consumer Products and Retail (including Toys, Food and Beverage and Packaging)
- Construction
- Energy and Natural Resources (including Mining)
- Defense
- Health Care and Pharmaceuticals
- Information Technology
- Insurance
- Real Estate and REITs
- Securities
Our professionals have advised clients concerning international trade from field-to-market and from factory-to-showroom. We help negotiate, draft and finalize contracts for production, transportation (including maritime and admiralty law) and distribution. Together with local advisory counsel, we advise on shipment and transportation, warehousing, freight forwarding and distribution, asset confiscation and expropriation, and trade finance. We have dealt with advance preparation for target companies, issues of corporate governance control and transfer, asset sales and purchases, share sales and purchases, mergers, joint ventures and recapitalizations. Our professionals have industry-specific knowledge that allows them to provide our clients with insightful and tested advice on the workings of all aspects dealing with industries such as oil and gas, automotive, manufacturing, metal, steel, petrochemicals, telecommunications, information technology, insurance, retail, utilities, energy, agriculture and banking.
PARKWOOD employs its tested knowledge of strategies and tactics to provide immediate, crucial and effective advice to clients, including corporate buyers and sellers, merchant banks, commercial banks, investment banks and institutional investors. Since many M&A matters require time-sensitive inputs and supports from various groups within the firm, our M&A practice relies heavily on the hallmark of PARKWOOD – diversified practice groups efficiently streamlined and coordinated to provide our clients with maximum leverage and advantage.
Our Transactions Experience
For more than 35 years on five continents, PARKWOOD professionals have advised U.S. and international companies and investors, banking institutions, global investment banking firms, publicly-traded companies, government-owned enterprises, public-private partnerships, and other parties in numerous privatizations, public and private securities offerings, mergers & acquisitions, reverse mergers and alternative public offerings, commercial financings, joint ventures and other complex transactions.
We have provided advice to the world’s largest manufacturer of farm implements, the world’s largest sanitaryware manufacturer, Myanmar’s largest pharmaceutical firm, international banks, leading multinational defense contractors and other firms engaged in manufacturing, shipping and/or real estate development.
Representative transactions include:
Finance
- Leasing arrangements for investors in industrial manufacturing and trade industries.
- Financings of various businesses through access to the international debt capital markets.
- International term and revolver loans and lines of credit for major financial institutions.
- Land acquisition/property leases, including agricultural land. Preparation of mortgage and funding documentation, environmental compliance, and resolving disputed land ownership claims and conflicting titles in Europe.
Mergers & Acquisitions; Privatizations
- Acquisition of assets of banking institutions.
- Purchases of defense firms.
- Sale of a midsized defense firm.
- Sale of a midsized natural gas filtration manufacturing business.
- Acquisition of land and greenfield development of the largest sanitaryware plant in the world.
- Multiple acquisitions of fittings and sanitaryware companies.
- Acquisition of a Polish metalworks plant.
- Privatization of a large metals plant.
- Privatization of farm machinery manufacturers.
Other Cross-Border Transactions
- Establishment and operation of joint ventures in various disadvantaged and Tax-Free Zones.
- Joint ventures with pipe and valve producers.
- Establishment of farm and construction parts manufacturers, and kitchen sanitaryware manufacturers.
- Development of greenfield joint ventures with private parties and/or state-owned enterprises in several South and South-East Asia countries, as well as China
- Europe’s largest sanitaryware privatization and greenfield development
- Acquisition of one of the largest European sanitaryware companies
Creative structuring of transactions is a hallmark of PARKWOOD’s practice that benefits from the resources provided by our various affiliated offices. Our professionals have also advised private companies, government and quasi-governmental agencies and securities and commodities exchanges regarding regulatory issues, currency swaps, corporate governance and fiduciary issues. For example:
- PARKWOOD obtained the requisite approvals necessary for clients to invest in banking and insurance operations in emerging markets.
- PARKWOOD professionals have performed due diligence examinations on banks and other financial institutions in the emerging markets.
- PARKWOOD has also structured syndicated loans from Western lenders.
- The firm’s professionals have advised clients in real estate development and finance on matters relating to the ownership, assembly, acquisition, development, construction, operation, financing and securing of real estate assets.
Compliance Matters
PARKWOOD professionals advise U.S. and international companies on developing, implementing and rigorously reviewing their Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and compliance programs, as well as familiarizing their overseas branches, subsidiaries, managers and agents with corporate procedures for handling contracts with foreign government entities or involving government officials. Our professionals’ work related to FCPA also entails risk assessment, conducting internal investigations related to potential violations, transaction counseling (when working with state-owned entities or other high-risk enterprises) and advising buyers and sellers regarding FCPA due diligence in mergers and acquisitions.
Alternate Dispute Resolution
Arbitration of investor disputes is an emerging and increasingly expanding aspect of international trade law. PARKWOOD has a proven track record assisting multinational companies and other clients in arbitrations conducted throughout the world, and our professionals are experienced in international commercial arbitration. Additionally, we have advised local counsel in litigation against, or on behalf of, our clients.
Value-Added For The Benefit of Clients
PARKWOOD has a range of practice areas that work regularly in matters involving emerging markets and related client activities. Each team of professionals collaborates in order to offer our clients the specialized knowledge that is needed in emerging markets. The areas in which we work include:
- Capital Markets
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act/global compliance
- Global Trade
- International Arbitration
- International Distributorship Agreements
- Investment Funds
- IP and Warranty Protections
- Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures
- Privatization Transactions
- Real Estate-Related Transactions
- Restructuring
- Securitization
- Trade Finance, Letters of Credit, Terms of Trade
Added Value Capabilities
- Fluency in multiple local languages, including French, Burmese, Hakha (Lai) and Romanian.
- Understanding of the cultural nuances with implications for business activities in a given country
- Familiarity with jurisdictional regulatory and international trade laws
- Market access issues and ability to identify points of entry for clients
- Strategic partnerships, alliances and overall recognition in the industries and global institutions and organizations that work most in emerging economies
Through the advice of experienced counsel, clients entering unfamiliar emerging markets can more easily bridge cultural differences in business norms in various parts of the world. Clients have come to rely upon our advice because they know that our execution of their requirements is distinguished by the depth and wealth of our experience. We are proud of our team’s ability to provide clients in emerging markets with exceptional quality advisory services. While this does not guarantee business success, its absence increases the risk of disappointing results. Our professionals are constantly seeking ways to improve our clients’ likelihood of success. In emerging markets, more so than anywhere else, this requires experience, depth and an awareness of the cultural and legal nuances that must be considered in each matter.