GLO and HaoLiWen Partners (“HLW”) are pleased to jointly announce that, after cordial and friendly discussions, we have recently reached an agreement for business merger.

A brief summary of the key details of the business merger are as follows: 

• From 1 September 2018, HLW will proceed with the merger of its business with GLO, and going forward its business will be carried out under the name of GLO;
• From 1 September 2018, the staff of HLW’s Shanghai and Beijing offices will be relocated to GLO’s Shanghai and Beijing offices respectively;
• For the purpose of ensuring the continuity of client services, “HaoLiWen Customs Tariff Classification Service Centre” will continue to operate as one of GLO’s internal departments; and
• GLO and HLW will go through the relevant processes as may be required by regulations, for the purpose of this business merger.

GLO was established in 1984 as the first law firm since the launch of “Opening the Door Policy” in China. After more than three decades’ practice, GLO has become one of top PRC law firms with full-service coverage. Since its inception, GLO has followed the mission of “serving multinational clients with cross-border vision, expertise and quality”. Headquartered in Beijing and with offices in Shanghai and Shenzhen, GLO now hosts over 400 professionals.

HLW was established in 2003. With its offices in Shanghai and Beijing, HLW has become renowned for its foreign investment and trade practices, and has developed a large clientele of multinational corporations. Furthermore, HLW is generally recognised by clients as one of the top firms for Customs & Trade Compliance practice in China. 

Mr. Liu Jinrong, the Managing Partner of GLO, has provided a statement on the business merger:

“HLW has become well-known for its foreign-related business, especially for its unique position in Customs & Trade Compliance capability in the Chinese legal market, which has been recognised by many Fortune Global 500 companies. We are excited about the full merger of HLW’s business into GLO as this will not only significantly upgrade our trade and compliance practice, but also enable our expansion into a new business area of customs practices. Customs & Trade Compliance has always been one area to which multinational enterprises attach great importance. We firmly believe that this merger is profoundly and strategically important for the implementation of our ‘One-Stop, Full Service’ strategy, so that we may better serve both Chinese and international clients.”

Mr. Zhao Deming, the former Managing Partner of HLW, has also provided a statement:

“We believe the business merger can be seen as ‘an injection of the first-tier Customs & Trade Compliance practice into a first-tier law firm’. GLO is one of the top PRC firms, with a proud history and a solid foundation, and HLW is honoured to be able to conclude the business merger agreement with GLO. Over three decades of development, GLO has achieved remarkable successes in a broad range of practices. HLW resonates with GLO’s low profile culture of professionalism. We cherish the development opportunity prompted by this merger and we will endeavour to better serve our clients with our joint and complementary practice forces.”   

We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to all of our clients, colleagues, regulators and friends who care and support GLO and HLW. In the meantime, we are very much looking forward to utilising our combined resources and expertise, to offer better and more comprehensive legal services to all of our clients.