Photo, Peter Lu

Peter Lu

Partner
Baker & McKenzie LLP

Biography

Peter Lu is a Partner within Baker McKenzie's London office, and leads the Firm's China Practice in the UK.

Practice Focus

Peter is a senior partner advising Chinese clients' most strategic, sensitive and ambitious mandates, with a particular focus on corporate matters, complex restructurings and strategic litigation. Across these three core pillars, Peter advises clients on cross-border M&A, joint ventures, directors' duties, governance matters, complex restructurings, disputes, crisis management and more. His clients are private, public and state owned enterprises, and span a number of industries, including financial services, media, infrastructure, consumer, energy, transportation and professional services.

Peter's clients include Fortune 500 companies, Royal Charted company and funds such as Novartis, Bank of China, AVIC, China Taiping Insurance, Reignwood Investments, China Hailing Group, China Media Group, China Telecom, Hisense International, ICBC, The British Standards Institution and China-Africa Cotton.

Clients praise Peter for the time he takes in getting to know their legal and commercial objectives, his skillful negotiation, his ability to see the "big picture" and his solution-driven approach. They also value his ability to cross east and west -- and remain attuned to the commercial and cultural nuances each side brings.

Peter has taught M&A and governance courses at Peking University, Tsinghua University, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) and Bank of China. Peter is a committee member of the Institute of Directors (IoD City Branch); the UK's longest-running organization for professional leaders. He has also been invited to testify on the issues of UK-China trade, and most recently, the NSI Act, before the UK Parliament.

Representative Legal Matters

  • Novartis on M&A and dispute matters
  • Bank of China on M&A, general corporate, dispute, compliance and investigation matters
  • ICBC on selling certain shares held by the bank
  • China Telecom on corporate matters in Europe
  • Tencent, one of the world's most valuable technology companies, on leading the Series A investment into SenSat, a UK Artificial Intelligence company
  • Baotech Capital, in the widely-publicized proposed acquisition of British Steel, the second-largest steel producer in the country
  • Baotech Capital in its proposed acquisition of Gurr Johns, a global leader in art valuation
  • China Hailiang Group as the majority shareholder on the administration of Asa Resource Group Plc
  • UCF in various corporate and dispute matters
  • China Taiping Insurance in various corporate, regulatory and dispute matters
  • China Development Bank, in its capacity as a major shareholder of Barclays plc, regarding Barclay's GBP 5.95 billion rights issue

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • Law Society of England and Wales

Admissions

  • England & Wales~United Kingdom

Education

  • University College London (LLB)
  • York University (MSc Project Analysis, Finance and Investment)
  • Nottingham University (BSc. International Economics)

Languages

  • English
  • Mandarin
  • Chapters on corporate, M&A and disputes, "Guide on Investing in the UK," China Council for Promotion of International Trade, 2020

  • China Foreign Investment Law, IFLR, 11 March 2020

  • Foreign Investment into China, IFLR, 13 February, 2020

  • Chinese FDI to Ireland rises 56%, Irish Times, 9 January 2020

  • Chinese Investment in Europe and North America, City A.M. 7 January 2020