General experience
Mark heads the finance and regulatory compliance groups of Stephenson Harwood in Greater China.
From a wide-ranging commercial law background, he specializes in providing general banking, finance, insolvency, employment and financial services regulatory compliance advice to financial services providers (including banks brokers and fund managers) and financial services users (including borrowers, investors and issuers and also to insolvency practitioners. He handles transactions involving secured and unsecured lending; asset, trade and structured finance; and finance asset sales and bank mergers. He also works on the structuring, issue and marketing of debt, equity and derivative products; and contractual debt restructurings and insolvencies.
“Extremely helpful and knowledgeable. “Has a commercial approach.”
Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2015
Mark has been recognised as a leading lawyer by both Chambers Asia and Asia Pacific Legal 500 for many years and is currently ranked by the China section of the 2014 Chambers Asia in the three areas of banking and finance, financial services regulatory and restructuring/insolvency. Clients have commented to Chambers Asia that he is “a hugely responsive and attentive lawyer who possesses excellent knowledge of the Hong Kong regulatory regime". In the 2014 Asia Pacific Legal 500, Mark is described as “a Hong Kong stalwart” for banking and finance, doing a “superb job” on regulatory work and a “name to note” on restructuring/insolvency work.
Background
Receiving a BA (1st ), Jurisprudence from Oxford University in 1978, Mark joined Stephenson Harwood London in 1979. Mark became a partner in 1988 and has worked extensively in both locations. He is now based in Hong Kong and has worked there for over 25 years
Recent Work
- Structuring, documenting and advising on the supply chain financing program introduced by a top 5 US bank for the export of products from China to the US.
- Advising on the regulatory and finance asset sale aspects of the merger of the Hong Kong branches of two top 10 US banks.
- Structuring and documenting the Hong Kong security package for the financing of a multi-jurisdiction M&A transaction in the cosmetics industry.
- Helping numerous clients in the financial services industries to obtain approval from the HK Securities and Futures Commission for the start or acquisition of SFC-regulated business.