Practice Areas: International Transactions

McGuireWoods’ International Transactions practice provides a full range of legal services to U.S. and foreign clients doing international business, whether for U.S. clients doing business overseas or foreign clients doing business in the U.S.

The firm has offices in four foreign countries: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Bucharest, Romania; Brussels, Belgium; and London, United Kingdom. We have working relationships with local lawyers in every part of the world. We are a member of Lex Mundi, the world’s leading association of independent law firms. In addition, since all of our offices are connected by a wide-area data and voice network and we maintain a 24-hour Internet e-mail gateway for our lawyers and clients, we can call on the resources of the firm from anywhere in the world, at any time of the day or night.

Our services include advice on legal issues (including financial and practical considerations), tax analysis (including both U.S. and international tax planning), drafting and negotiating principal agreements (including transactional, financing, joint venture and shareholder agreements), implementing technology exchanges (including preparing licenses and obtaining governmental approvals), protection of intellectual property, complying with corporate law and merger requirements, and coordinating with and directing local counsel.

Services for this group include:

Representative Work

The following matters reflect the group's capabilities across a range of industries and issues:

  • Representation of principal parties in the acquisition or sale of businesses in every country of Western Europe, including large scale manufacturing operations in France, Germany, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Greece and a UK owned aerospace business with complex non-competition and intellectual cross-licensing issues.
  • Representation of principal parties in the renovation of the port, marina and adjoining real estate in Larnaka, Cyprus, a coal-fired electrical power plant in Bulgaria, nuclear power plants in Bulgaria and Russia and manufacturing facilities in Turkey, Romania, the Czech Republic and Russia, including rescue of the Russian facility after the collapse of the Ruble by an equity infusion in the form of intellectual property.
  • Representation of principal parties in connection with oil, gas and hard mineral exploration, highway construction, telecommunications projects, power plant renovations, cross-border transmission capacity, hydroelectric power facilities and a regional distribution grid in Kazakhstan.
  • Representation of Japanese companies in connection with establishment, purchase and sale of U.S. operations in such fields as manufacturing, real estate development, insurance, financial services, broadcasting and entertainment, including establishing an automobile manufacturing facility in Mississippi and an aircraft design, engineering and fuselage manufacturing facility in North Carolina.
  • Representation of investors in China, including the first foreign company to mine coal in the Peoples Republic of China and the international joint venture to construct the new headquarters office tower for the Bank of Communications in Shanghai.
  • Representation of principal parties in connection with projects in Central and South America and the Caribbean, including a marina project and a cellular service system in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a fast food franchise in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile, electricity generating plants in Argentina, Bolivia, Belize, Peru and the Dominican Republic, manufacturing facilities in Mexico and Brazil, a toll road in Jamaica and a property and casualty insurer in Bermuda.
  • Representation principal parties in connection with projects in Africa, including developers and operators of numerous mining projects and the equipment purchaser for a rural communications project.
  • Representation of principal parties in the negotiation of sales contracts, specifications and terms, as well as structuring and negotiation of finance agreements for radar projects in Jordan and Bangladesh.
  • Representation of multinational clients in cross border tax efficient financing structures such as the transfer and license back of operating assets to a UK limited partnership and the transfer of intellectual property to a Luxembourg entity capitalized by issuance of $2 billion in preferred equity certificates.