Country Specific Areas of Focus
We specialize in providing a full range of combined legal, accounting, tax and business services to small and mid-sized companies in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Southeast Asia. Additionally, our China-based Canadian lawyers and our professionals throughout Canada’s major cities focus on providing a full range of legal and business services for our clients in China including, business law, real estate transactions, international trade, family law and estate planning.
Hong Kong Services
Our Hong Kong office provides a full range of legal services to small and medium-sized businesses, family owned enterprises, start-up companies and individuals who have invested into Hong Kong. The majority of our clients who have invested in Hong Kong have utilized this jurisdiction as a gateway for their investments into China and other Asian countries. Alongside the provision of legal services, our Hong Kong office provides consulting services such as company establishment, trademark registration and basic accounting services to complement and strengthen the services our lawyers provide. We also utilize our TSPC license to provide corporate secretary services for our clients.
Doing Business in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is major center for international finance, trade, transport and logistics, professional services, communications and tourism. Its strong and well-regulated legal and financial sector, tax policies, excellent infrastructure, free press/free flow of information, pool of managerial talent with international experience and technical expertise, ease of access and proximity to major markets, including Macau and China’s Pearl River Delta, makes Hong Kong an ideal location for almost any type of business. Food and beverage and restaurant businesses, fashion and jewelry companies and financial services firms of all kinds are thriving in Hong Kong. There is a shortfall of skilled professionals and services staff in nearby Mainland China, and Hong Kong headquartered management, design and marketing, legal services, transport and logistics, finance and accounting services companies have been given an opportunity to fill this void.
Gateway to China and Asia
Hong Kong is an ideal location for the corporate headquarters of an Asia-based business. Many of our clients in Hong Kong are small and medium-sized enterprises or larger-sized corporates who chose Hong Kong as a regional base. The country does not levy capital gains or withholding taxes and currencies are not controlled in Hong Kong as they are in Mainland China. Much of our work in Hong Kong has and continues to be China-related. Our Hong Kong professionals work closely with our professionals in Shanghai to provide the legal and consulting services our clients require in Hong Kong and China as a team.
Legal, Accounting/Tax, Human Resources and Business Services for Mid-Sized Companies Entering into or Operating in China
We specialize in providing legal and consulting services to a diverse group of international businesses that are breaking into or doing business in China. Alongside the importance of having an experienced legal team to help navigate China’s unique legal and political system, small and mid-sized enterprises investing into China typically require external accounting and tax, human resources, market entry research, online and off line marketing support, assistance with locating an office or warehouse, employee recruitment and a range of industry specific consulting services. Noticing a demand for such services, Moxiu has brought together a group of lawyers, certified public accountants, human resources experts and other business professionals such as business owners and former government officials to work as team to provide business solutions that are tailored to the needs of our clients who are developing businesses in China or investing into the country for the first time.We specialize in assisting international companies with investments into sectors that are encouraged by the Chinese government such as high-quality food and consumer goods that improve living standards in China, sports and entertainment, new energy, soil remediation and other innovative technologies.
Legal and Business Services in China
- Advice on Corporate Structure and Company Formation
- Assistance with Negotiations
- Drafting commercial contracts in multiple languages
- Corporate compliance and governance
- Employment-related legal and consulting services
- Human resources services
- Accounting services
- Due diligence investigations
- Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures
- Trademark and Patent Registrations
- Intellectual property protection strategies
- Litigation, mediation and arbitration
- Advisory work on inbound and outbound investments
- International trade services
- Applications for work permits and industry specific licenses
- Real Estate, Tax Planning and Wealth Management
Doing Business in China
As its economy matured, some of the original tax incentives and other advantages that China adopted to capture foreign investment have been removed. Due to the inflation of wages in China and the removal of tax incentives, investment into labor-intensive manufacturing and export industries is decreasing. At the same time, favorable tax rates, policies and economic conditions make it an ideal time to invest into the Western regions of China, business sectors that target China’s domestic consumer market and into high-tech sectors. Despite concerns in the media regarding the stability of China it is the second largest economy in the world and an important business jurisdiction for many of our clients.
Legal and Business Services in Japan
Our Legal, Finance and Business Services in Japan
The majority of our clients are mid-sized international businesses that have established operational companies in China through a Hong Kong holding company and after experiencing success in China, many of our clients expand their businesses in other Asian countries. Since we commonly receive requests for assistance in Japan, we have developed practice groups in Tokyo and Fukuoka to offer combined legal, finance and business services tailored to the needs of our mid-sized clients.
Due to Japan’s unique business culture, negotiating and entering into contracts with Japanese businesses can become time consuming for international clients. Similarly, establishing or purchasing a business in Japan can become complicated for foreign investors since English is not the default language in Japan, the process must be completed by hardcopy and the Japanese governmental bodies and banks have unique customs and processes.
Our partners Junko Ishibashi from Tokyo and Atsushi Miyake from Fukuoka have established boutique firms, Ishibashi Legal Office and Miyake Law, tailored to providing services to foreign clients in Japan. Both are barristers and solicitors who are fluent in Japanese and English and specialize in assisting international businesses with intellectual property licensing, dispute resolution, negotiations, contract drafting (e.g. commercial contracts, trust agreements, inheritance agreements, etc.), company establishment, license applications, legal research, and family and corporate law matters and we also specialize in providing legal services to sports and entertainment companies in Japan.
Our finance and business teams in Japan offer assistance with real estate transactions and provide accounting and tax and human resources services, import and export procedures and a range of other business services.
In addition, a business service offered by our lawyers that has been considered particularly helpful is attending meetings on the behalf of our client’s business when they are unable to travel to Japan or attending meetings with our clients and their customers to assist with translations, negotiations and bridging cultural gaps. This service can be an effective way to move from initial stage talks to signed contracts in English and Japanese languages.
Japanese Outbound Investment into Southeast Asia
Doing Business in Thailand and Surrounding Countries – “Thai + CLMV” タイとその周辺国でビジネスを行う – “タイ+ CLMV”
As the Chinese market has matured, to lower costs or reduce over-dependence on China many international businesses have adopted a “China-Plus-One” strategy, which is jargon for Asian investment shifting from being mostly about China, to China plus another key location in Asia. This strategy has worked well for our Japanese clients, many of which focused on making Thailand the additional key location in Asia for business expansion.中国市場が成熟するにつれて、コストを下げたり、中国マンに過度に依存を減らしたりするために、国際企業は、アジアの投資が主に中国から中国に移行し、アジアのもう一つの重要な場所に移行するための専門用語である「中国プラスワン」戦略を採用しました。この戦略は、日本の顧客にとってうまく機能しており、その多くはタイをアジアのビジネス拡大のための追加の重要な場所にすることに焦点を当てています。
Similar to the situation in China that led Japanese businesses to adopt a “China-Plus-One” business model, wage inflation and labour shortages have recently encouraged Japanese businesses to adopt a “Thailand-Plus-One” business model. Under this model, Japanese companies operating in Thailand transfer labor-intensive parts of their businesses to nearby Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam while corporate headquarters and/or major production bases remain in Thailand. This same business model has also been referred to as the “Thailand-Plus-CLMV” model.日本企業が「中国プラスワン」ビジネスモデルを採用する中国の状況と同様に、賃金インフレと労働力不足は最近、日本企業に「タイプラスワン」ビジネスモデルの採用を促している。このモデルでは、タイで事業を展開する日本企業は、労働集約的な事業を近くのカンボジア、ラオス、ミャンマー、ベトナムに移転し、本社や主要生産拠点はタイに残っています。これと同じビジネスモデルは「タイプラスCLMV」モデルとも呼ばれています。
Singapore and the “ASEAN 5” シンガポールと 「ASEAN5」
After assisting our clients in China, Canada or Japan, in response to the growing shift to and development of the ASEAN country economies, some of our clients require services in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, which has become to be known as the “ASEAN 5”. Some of our clients invest into the ASEAN 5 in order to establish holding companies in Singapore instead of Hong Kong while others focus on incorporating and developing operational businesses in the region. 中国、カナダ、日本のクライアントを支援した後、ASEAN諸国へのシフトと発展に対応して、シンガポール、インドネシア、マレーシア、フィリピン、タイなどでサービスを必要とするクライアントも、ASEAN5と呼ばれるようになりました。香港ではなくシンガポールに持株会社を設立するためにASEAN5に投資する企業もあれば、地域の事業の組み込みと開発に注力する企業もあります。
Singapore has been a long-time rival of Hong Kong as a financial and trading center and is in many ways the urban capital of the entire region of Southeast Asia. It has a multinational population including Indian, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, North Americans and Europeans sharing a common language of English as the national language and an established legal system based on English common law. In Singapore the emphasis is more on financial investments, such as regional M&A transactions managed out of Singapore, but also includes the more recent trends which have brought new businesses to Singapore in the fields of fashion, foods and beverages, luxury goods, new technologies and internet and telecommunications services. Opportunities to establish operational businesses in the ASEAN 5 are vast and a variety of tax and other incentives are available to attract international businesses to invest into the region. If the ten ASEAN member states were one single country, it would already be the seventh largest economy in the world, and as its legal and financial systems continue to improve and the countries become more integrated, there will be a multitude of business opportunities for foreign investors as the economies of ASEAN states continue to grow. シンガポールは、金融と貿易の中心地として香港の長年のライバルであり、多くの点で東南アジアの全地域の都市の首都です。インド、マレー語、中国語、日本語、北米、ヨーロッパ人を含む多国籍人口が公用語として英語の共通言語を共有し、英語のコモンローに基づいて確立された法制度を持っています。シンガポールでは、シンガポールから管理される地域のM＆A取引などの金融投資に重点が置かれていますが、ファッション、食品および飲料、高級品、新技術、およびシンガポールに新しいビジネスをもたらした最近の傾向も含まれています。インターネットおよび電気通信サービス。 ASEAN 5で事業を設立する機会は膨大であり、この地域に投資する国際企業を誘致するために、さまざまな税金やその他のインセンティブを利用できます。 ASEAN加盟10カ国が1つの国であるとすれば、それはすでに世界で7番目に大きな経済であり、その法制度と金融システムが改善され続け、国がより統合されるにつれて、外国人にとって多くのビジネスチャンスが生まれるでしょう。 ASEAN諸国の経済としての投資家は成長を続けています。
Our Thailand office provides legal and consulting services to international businesses in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (the “Thailand-Plus-CLMV” region) and Moxiu has established a team of lawyers and firms in the ASEAN 5 who specialize in assisting small or midsized businesses with market-entry legal services who are readily available to assist when our clients expand their businesses to the South of Asia. Our CLMV and ASEAN 5 professionals complete our work with the highest professional standards at reasonable rates. 私たちのタイ事務所は、タイ、カンボジア、ラオス、ミャンマー、ベトナム（「Thailand-Plus-CLMV」地域）の国際企業に法律およびコンサルティングサービスを提供し、Moxiuは支援を専門とするASEAN5の弁護士および企業のチームを設立しました。 クライアントが南アジアに事業を拡大する際に支援するためにすぐに利用できる市場参入法務サービスを備えた中小企業。 CLMVとASEAN5の専門家は、リーズナブルな料金で最高の専門基準で作業を完了します。
Business Opportunities in Japan
While the US and China are undergoing a trade war, just behind these countries, Japan is the third largest economy in the world by gross domestic product, is politically stable and has advanced legal and banking systems, all of which makes it an excellent time to invest in the Japanese market. Although Japan was once the most expensive market in Asia, the nominal value of the Japanese Yen is cheap and property and rent prices are low compared to other economic centers in Asia such as Hong Kong and Singapore. Recent policies in Japan towards accepting overseas investment and high-skilled personnel is much more welcoming compared to many of Japan’s policies in the past.
While Tokyo and Osaka have traditionally been the main cities of interest for foreign business in Japan; other second-tier cities in Japan such as Fukuoka are now offering excellent opportunities for foreign investment. Costs are much cheaper than in Tokyo and yet the infrastructure and level of development and availability of talent and support are equivalent to the major urban areas. Property investment, manufacturing, and hi-tech industrial development are all possible in Kyushu. Fukuoka is also near to Korea and Taiwan and has extensive commercial relations with these nearby countries, as well as with China.
Aside from doing business in Japan, many smaller and medium-sized companies are looking for new talent to carry on their companies to the next generation and are available for take-over or injection of new capital in order to expand locally and into international markets. Agricultural products and techniques, medical devices, robotics, manufacturing equipment and tools and environmental technology are all areas where Japanese expertise is ready for more investment and development.
Legal Services in Canada
Chinese Outbound Investment into Canada 中国在加拿大作境外投资
Overseas investment by Chinese companies has rapidly increased as Chinese businesses have expanded into new markets seeking to develop advanced technologies and acquire energy, resources and brand names. We understand the business environments of both Canada and China and provide services to help our clients navigate through differences in business cultures and legal systems, find new opportunities and close business deals. 中国企业扩展到新市场，寻求开发先进技术和获取能源、资源和品牌，中国企业的海外投资迅速增加。。 我们了解加拿大和中国的商业环境，帮助我们的客户应对商业文化和法律体系的差异，助其找到新机会，促成商业交易。
Our lawyers, with qualifications, experience and language skills in multiple jurisdictions, regularly advise our Chinese clients on complex issues confronting their overseas projects. We have extensive experience assisting Chinese companies with their outbound investments projects, such as acquiring or investing into private and public companies in Canada, purchasing residential and commercial properties and participating in investment immigration programs.我们在各司法管辖区均有多个资深律师，具有丰富的经验和高超的语言技巧，定期为中国客户就其海外项目面临的复杂问题提供咨询。协助中国公司进行海外投资项目，如在加拿大收购，或投资加拿大的私营和上市公司，购买住宅和商业财产，以及参与投资移民计划等，我们拥有丰富的经验。
Our China-based lawyers work together with our legal teams in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec to assist our Chinese clients with company formation, asset and share purchase agreements, mergers and acquisitions, public listings, trademark and patent registrations, real estate transactions, immigration investment, commercial contract drafting and a full range of legal services in Canada. 我们中国基地的律师与我们在不列颠哥伦比亚省、艾伯塔省、安大略省和魁北克省的法律团队合作，为中国客户提供加拿大境内公司组建服务，资产和股票购买协议服务，并购服务，公开上市服务，商标和专利注册服务，房地产交易方协助 ，移民投资，商业合同起草等全方位法律服务。
Services for Canadian and Chinese Individuals and Small Businesses in Canada and China
Our Canadian lawyers in China are available to assist Canadian individuals in China and Chinese individuals in Canada with a variety of services such as property related transactions and family law matters in Canada and China (e.g. drafting wills, estate planning and assistance with divorce, fingerprinting and foreign work permit applications in China, applications for PRC residence card and the preparation and notarization of property purchase and sale documents in Canada).
Notarization Services for Individuals
We complete notarizations for property purchases and sales in Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand and provide a full range of services regarding the purchase and sale of properties in Canada.
Services for Canadian Individuals and Families Living in China
- Foreign Work permits applications
- PRC Permanent residence cards applications
- Fingerprinting services
- Notarizations for child travel consent forms
- Family Law (divorce, separation, division of assets, child custody and visitation rights)
- Drafting Wills
- Divorce for Canadian citizens living in China
- Employment disputes – analysis of employment contracts to determine your legal rights, settlements, negotiations with employers
- Review of commercial and other contracts
Services for Chinese Individuals Living or Doing Business in Canada
- Arrange meetings with our Canadian lawyers in China and Canada to discuss your legal needs and devise specific plans on how we can assist
- Company formation, asset and share purchase agreements, mergers and acquisitions, share transfers, public listings, trademark and patent registrations, real estate transactions, immigration investment, commercial contract drafting
- We help individuals, families and business owners with succession and personal tax and wealth planning, often using wills, lasting powers of attorney, trusts, offshore companies and foundations to protect wealth for the future
Company Establishment and Creation of Family Trusts for Entrepreneurs and International Families
We provide wealth management services, succession planning and establish family trusts for Canadian and Chinese clients in jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands and Guernsey
Property Location and Purchase and Sale Services in Canada
- We will help you navigate through the laws associated with your property closing, help you reduce your taxes and assist with all legal aspects of your purchase or sale
- Our Canadian lawyers in China prepare property closing documents and a full range of notary services associated with property closing transactions in Canada. This allows a purchaser in China to complete their transactions without traveling to Canada or overseas to sign and notarize documents
- If you require any other services, we can work with you to find the exact property that fits your needs, help source mortgages and insurance and locate tenants for your property
The Canadian estate markets are rich with opportunity. Perhaps you are a Chinese buyer looking to purchase an investment property in Canada or you may simply wish to purchase a property for your children who are moving to Canada for school. Regardless of why you would like to take advantage of the Canadian real estate market, Chinese buyers often face a host of obstacles during the processing of purchasing Canadian properties. Without local expertise the task of locating and acquiring quality property can be extremely challenging.
Our property group consists of Canadian and Chinese lawyers, finance and property experts who offer a one stop, turn-key service to assist Chinese buyers with purchasing properties in Canada. Our dedicated team provides a client focused experience focusing on each individual’s particular needs. Our rich expertise makes the process of purchasing a property in Canada extremely simple and seamless for you as a purchaser.
We will work with you to find the exact property that fits your needs. Our local experts have relationships with building developers and are aware of the many projects and properties for sale in Canada. This local knowledge can be the difference between a successful investment and a poor investment. Our local experts will assist in negotiating the best price available for your property. Our local experts also have access to investments that are not available to others. These properties are not listed on various online portals. They come at reduced prices as a result of close relationships between our company and the developer of these properties.
We will help you navigate through the laws associated with your property closing, help you reduce your taxes and assist with all legal aspects of your purchase or sale.
Our Canadian lawyers in China prepare property closing documents and a full range of notary services associated with property closing transactions in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other countries. This allows a purchaser in China to complete their transactions without traveling to Canada or overseas to sign and notarize documents. In circumstances where buyers have friends or family members in Canada, China-based buyers are able to meet with us in China and provide a notarized power of attorney form to delegate a representative to handle property closing procedures on their behalf.
If you require any other services, we can help source mortgages and insurance and help locate tenants for your property. We provide a customized one stop service that meets every one of your needs. This is the difference between our company and using an online portal to purchase a property without proper guidance.
Notarization Services
Meet with our lawyer in China to notarize your property purchase and sale documents instead of traveling to Canada to complete these transactions.
Legal & Business Services in Singapore and Southeast Asia
Investment into Singapore and Southeast Asia
Economic policies and the current business climate are encouraging Canadian, Chinese and other international businesses to invest into Southeast Asia. Consistently ranking as one of the world’s most efficient places to do business, Singapore is a natural gateway for doing business in Southeast Asia. In addition to Singapore being a corporate headquarters for Southeast Asia operations, many of our clients are interested in or already operating businesses in Singapore. We have developed a full services platform to provide our SME clients with business consulting, legal, accounting and human resources services in Singapore.
We provide guidance to our clients to help them understand the legal, cultural and business environments of the overseas countries in which they invest. Our lawyers, with qualifications, experience and language skills in multiple jurisdictions, regularly advise our clients on complex issues confronting their overseas projects. We have extensive experience assisting Chinese companies with their outbound investments projects, such as acquiring or investing into private and public companies overseas and purchasing residential and commercial properties.
The core services we provide in Singapore and Southeast Asia are business law and dispute resolution services such as: company formation, assistance with negotiations, drafting commercial contracts, employment related work, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, due diligence, trademark registrations, litigation, arbitration and mediation, advisory work on inbound investments, international trade, applications for industry specific licenses and assistance with property sales and purchases. To complement our legal services, our professionals provide business consulting services in the following categories: mergers and acquisitions, asset management, business matching, human resources, real estate and accounting and finance.
Ideal Timing for Investments into Southeast Asia
√ Advantageous labor, economic and investment policies and the potential for rapid-growth in the CLMV countries
√ Manufacturing costs are lower in Thai + CLMV in comparison to China, where wages and the cost of business is rising
√ Transportation infrastructure linking Thailand to the CLMV countries is improving and under constant development
√ As the ASEAN business community continues to come together, Thailand has become an important logistics, trading and financial hub for businesses investing into Southeast Asia
√ Once a road link to Dawei, Myanmar is completed, it will be easy to export goods from Thailand to India, the Middle East and Africa without having to pass through the Strait of Malacca
√ Growth rates in CLMV countries during recent years have exceeded those of the original ASEAN countries as these countries make the transition to middle-income status
√ Political conditions in the CLMV and ASEAN countries are constantly improving
√ Governments are making proactive efforts to attract foreign investment in a variety of business sectors
√ The modernization of Thailand and its continual improvements in services, entertainment, hospitality and public transit sectors, not to mention the warm hospitality of Thai people, has and continues to increase Thailand’s appeal
Legal, Business and Real Estate Services in Phuket, Thailand
タイ、プーケットの法務、ビジネス、不動産サービス
泰国普吉岛的法务，商务及房地产服务
To accommodate our client’s needs in Phuket where many foreign individuals purchase residential properties and/or establish small businesses, the managing partner of our office in Thailand established an office in Phuket to provide legal and cross-border investment advisory services. Alongside providing corporate and commercial legal services, our professionals in Phuket help our clients locate and purchase or lease commercial and residential property, assist our clients with obtaining insurance policies, help with employee recruitment, work permit applications, human resources and tax filing services and provide a range of other business consulting services. The main legal practice focuses on relocation, real estate, family law, and inheritance. Our business consulting group encompass market entry to help ensure that our clients are obtaining the appropriate advice pertaining to their interests in Phuket.
多くの外国人が住宅物件を購入したり、中小企業を設立したりするプーケットでのクライアントのニーズに対応するために、タイのオフィスのマネージングパートナーは、法的および国境を越えた投資顧問サービスを提供するオフィスをプーケットに設立しました。 プーケットの専門家は、企業および商業法務サービスの提供に加えて、クライアントが商業および住宅用不動産を見つけて購入またはリースするのを支援し、保険契約の取得を支援し、従業員の採用、労働許可申請、人事および税務申告サービスを支援します。 他のさまざまなビジネスコンサルティングサービス。 主な法的慣行は、移転、不動産、家族法、相続に焦点を当てています。 私たちのビジネスコンサルティンググループは、お客様がプーケットへの関心に関連する適切なアドバイスを確実に得られるように、市場参入を網羅しています。
许多外国人在普吉岛购买住宅和/或建立小型企业。为了满足客户在普吉岛的需求，我们泰国的执行合伙人在普吉岛设立了办事处，提供法律和跨境投资咨询服务。 除了提供公司和商业法律服务外，普吉岛的专业人员还帮助客户寻找和购买或租赁商业房产和住宅房产，协助客户获取保险，协助员工招聘，协助工作许可申请，并提供人力资源，税务申报，以及系列其他业务咨询服务。 我们主要的法律实践集中于搬迁，房地产，家庭法和继承。 我们的业务咨询团队包括市场准入，以确保我们的客户获取与其在普吉岛的利益有关的适当建议。