ESTABLISHED IN 1960
Asia Managing Partner: Ian Mann
Number of partners: 60
Number of associates: 150+
Firm Overview
Harneys is a global offshore law and fiduciary services firm with entrepreneurial thinking. Open, progressive and personable, our multilingual team works alongside leading professional advisers to provide legal, corporate and fiduciary services relating to British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Anguilla, Bermuda and Jersey* law.
Our Hong Kong office is the hub of our expanding Asia practice and we are one of the largest offshore law firms in the region with 60 lawyers in Asia. Our Shanghai office is the only full-service offshore legal team on the ground in the PRC. We are trusted legal advisers to an international client base including all of the world’s top 30 international law firms, 18 of the world’s 20 largest banks and financial institutions, as well as investment funds and private individuals.
Our lawyers offer the full spectrum of offshore advice across litigation and restructuring, banking and finance, capital markets and investment funds, corporate and commercial, and private wealth and trusts. We have been the world’s leading firm for BVI law advice for decades – we helped to write the BVI’s commercial law and consistently have more BVI legal practitioners than any other firm worldwide. We are globally renowned for our Cayman Islands funds expertise and the structuring of downstream corporate transactions for private equity and venture capital funds.
Our litigation and restructuring practice leads the offshore market in terms of both global reach and expertise. We undertake all aspects of litigation in the BVI and Cayman Islands courts, including shareholder disputes, fraud, asset tracing and contentious trusts. For emergency injunctions, our lawyers work closely with our BVI and Cayman-based litigators to provide a 24-hour seamless service.
Our associated corporate and fiduciary services business, Harneys Fiduciary, delivers the full range of corporate administration, funds, trust and compliance services to many of the world’s leading law firms, corporations, financial institutions and private clients. Our fiduciary team operates across key onshore and offshore locations including the BVI, Cayman Islands, and Hong Kong, and has earned us a reputation for excellence worldwide.
Key Practice Areas
Corporate & commercial; Banking & finance; Investment funds; Private wealth & trusts; Litigation; Restructuring & insolvency; Shipping & aircraft; Tax & regulatory; Property and real estate.
*Jersey legal services are provided through a referral arrangement with Harneys (Jersey) which is an independently owned and controlled Jersey law firm.
Independent intelligence on this law firm
The following information is sourced directly from China Business Law Journal and/or Law.asia and is not part of the directory listing provided by the law firm.
Testimonials
A Harneys client , who wished to remain anonymous, says, “The team of lawyers at Harneys gave us a good strategy and followed up very promptly with a plan to deal with every possible problem that might arise.”
China Business Law Awards 2021
Charles Chau, a partner at Jones Day in Hong Kong, says, “I have always been impressed with the responsiveness, efficiency and quality of work from the Harneys team. We had no issues in approaching them to help us with our most significant transactions, knowing fully well that they have both the expertise and efficiency to see that we kept to all our demanding deadlines.”
China Business Law Awards 2021
Notable Deals
Recognised by China Business Law Journal as Deals of the Year
| China Mobile Communications’ A-share listing | 2022 | US$7.7 billion | Details |
| KE Holdings’ Hong Kong dual-primary listing | 2022 | N/A | Details |
| NaaS merges with RISE, lists on Nasdaq | 2022 | N/A | Details |
| Evergrande’s restructuring of massive offshore debt | 2022 | US$300 billion | Details |
| Luckin Coffee debt restructuring | 2022 | US$460 million | Details |
| RiseSun’s scheme of arrangement in BVI | 2022 | US$780 million | Details |
| Samson Paper’s cross-border restructuring | 2022 | N/A | Details |
| Qihoo 360 privatisation-related Cayman proceedings | 2022 | N/A | Details |
| Sina privatisation-related Cayman proceedings | 2022 | N/A | Details |
| SF REIT’s Hong Kong listing | 2021 | US$335 million | Details |
| Xpeng’s Hong Kong listing | 2021 | US$1.8 billion | Details |
| SINA merges with New Wave, goes private | 2020 | N/A | Details |
| Xpeng’s US IPO and US$1.3 billion pre-IPO financing | 2020 | US$1.3 billion | Details |
| Wang Jing sues WeRide | 2020 | N/A | Details |
| NFC acquires United Family Healthcare | 2019 | US$1.3 billion | Details |
| SenseTime C++/C-prime round financing | 2019 | US$1 billion | Details |
| C.H.M.T. purchases The Center in Hong Kong | 2018 | US$5.2 billion | Details |
| Kaisa Group’ exchange offer and new issuance | 2017 | N/A | Details |
| HengXinLi’s first real estate crowdfunding in China | 2016 | N/A | Details |
| CITIC and KKR invest in United Envirotech | 2015 | US$1.3 billion | Details |
| Forgame’s Hong Kong IPO | 2013 | US$206 million | Details |
Contact us
Hong Kong Office
Harney Westwood & Riegels
3501 The Center 99 Queen’s Road Central Hong Kong
Telephone: +852 5806 7800
Fax: +852 5806 7810
Email: hongkong@harneys.com
Asia Managing Partner
Ian Mann
Singapore Office
Harney Westwood & Riegels Singapore LLP
138 Market Street #24-04 CapitaGreen Singapore 048946
Telephone: +65 6800 9830
Fax: +65 6800 9831
Email: singapore@harneys.com
Singapore Managing Partner
Lishi Fong
Shanghai Office
Aristodemou Loizides Yiolitis LLC, Shanghai Representative Office (Cyprus)
Unit 2, 9th Floor, Tower 3, Lujiazui Finance Plaza, 826 Century Avenue, Pudong New District, Shanghai 200120, China
Telephone: +86 21 2030 7888
Fax: +86 21 2030 7868
Email: china@harneys.cn
Shanghai Managing Partner
Vicky Lord
Anguilla • Bermuda • British Virgin Islands • Cayman Islands • Cyprus • Hong Kong • Jersey • London • Luxembourg • Montevideo • Sao Paulo • Shanghai • Singapore • Vancouver
