Yong Bai

Bai Yong is a partner in Clifford Chance’s antitrust practice and head of the antitrust practice in Greater China. Before joining the firm, he worked for the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (Mofcom). Bai is a member of the expert committee of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME). Bai has unrivalled experience and knowledge of the competition law landscape within China, based on his experience working within Mofcom, followed by over 10 years’ experience advising domestic and multinational corporations on antitrust and regulatory matters. In addition, over the past couple of years he has also worked in the firm’s London and Brussels offices, where he gained first-hand experience of the practice of competition law in these jurisdictions. As a result, Bai is one of the very few lawyers in the market able to give Chinese clients advice on global competition law issues from a Chinese perspective. Bai covers a wide range of work and industry types, including high-profile global deals such as Pfizer’s USD160 billion merger with Allergan and GE’s USD21.4 billion disposal of its biopharma business to Danaher. He has also advised on inbound investment into China for multinational corporations such as Coca-Cola, GE, Henkel and Carrefour, and PE funds such as CVC, Partners Group, Permira and Affinity; restructuring of Chinese state-owned enterprises, such as the merger between Sinochem and ChemChina, the merger between China Shipbuilding Corporation and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, and China Baowu Steel Group’s acquisition of Magang Group and Taiyuan Iron & Steel Group, which all involved numerous filings across multiple jurisdictions; outbound deals by Chinese investors, such as Cofco’s acquisitions of Noble Agri and Nidera, which involved approximately 30 filings across multiple jurisdictions; antitrust investigations and leniency applications for clients in the pharmaceutical, logistics, technology and auto parts sectors; and compliance and regulatory work for regional and global clients. Bai has been recognised by Chambers Asia-Pacific as a Leading Individual, Who’s Who Legal as a Global Leader and Future Leader, and by Legal 500 as a Next Generation Partner.