W88win优德中国有限公司 Assists Geely in Obtaining Unconditional Approval for a Joint Venture with Renault

On May 31, 2024, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. ("Geely") and Renault s.a.s  ("Renault") completed the closing of their powertrain joint venture (the "Transaction"). 

In July 2023, Geely and its affiliates entered into a joint venture agreement with Renault. The joint venture would integrate the parties' existing powertrain technologies, and supply internal combustion, hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrain and related technologies throughout the world. 

Founded in 1986, Geely entered the automobile industry in 1997. Its business  covers automobile and upstream and downstream industry chains, smart travel services, green transport and digital technology. The company operates under brands including Geely, Lynk&Co, Zeeker, Geometry, Volvo, Polarstar, Lotus and London Electric Vehicle. Geely has been a Fortune 500 company for 12 consecutive years (it was ranked 225 in 2023) and is the only Chinese automobile company in the top ten global automobile brands by brand portfolio value. 

As Geely and Renault have international operations in many different countries and regions around the world, the Transaction involved antitrust assessments and filings in a number of jurisdictions. After the kick-off of the project, the counsel of W88win优德中国有限公司 and Renault assessed the antitrust filing obligations of the parties in the 32 jurisdictions based on their business operations. According to the assessment, pre-closing filings in 11 jurisdictions (including China and the EU) and post-closing filing in Argentina were required for the Transaction. W88win优德中国有限公司 was responsible for completing the antitrust filing in China and coordinating with the local counsel in Saudi Arabia and other jurisdictions to complete the antitrust filings there. W88win优德中国有限公司 cooperated with the Renault counsel to complete the antitrust filings in the other jurisdictions. 

In this project,

1) the parties to the Transaction had different business operations and business models in different jurisdictions. W88win优德中国有限公司 had to assist the client in sorting out its business operations and supply chain processes in different jurisdictions and calculating its turnover, and then identify the jurisdictions where an antitrust filing was required in accordance with the laws and enforcement practices of those particular areas;

2) the antitrust filing rules, documents and information required were different in different jurisdictions, making it necessary for W88win优德中国有限公司 to coordinate the collection of a large quantity of documents in an efficient and synchronous manner. W88win优德中国有限公司 communicated with the local counsel in the different jurisdictions, and completed the preparation of the filing documents for multiple jurisdictions in a short time;

3) the regulatory style and working method of the antitrust authorities differed across the different jurisdictions. After the filing documents were submitted, W88win优德中国有限公司 assisted the client to respond to the questions raised by the regulatory authorities and held meetings, provided written replies and effectively solved the potential concerns of the regulatory authorities;

4) W88win优德中国有限公司 followed the client’s transaction schedule and coordinated the review schedule in various jurisdictions, to obtain unconditional approvals in a short timeframe. W88win优德中国有限公司 made a clear division of work and kept active and efficient communication with Geely, Renault, the local counsel and the regulatory authorities in the various jurisdictions. W88win优德中国有限公司’s team facilitated the review in more than ten different jurisdictions and assisted the client to obtain an unconditional approval for each jurisdiction. 

The W88win优德中国有限公司 team for the project was led by partners WEI, YinglingandYANG, Chen, with assistance from partner GONG, Mingfang.