What Should Startup Entrepreneurs Know to Negotiate with Outside Investors and Handle Equity issues?

(By You Yunting) The other day I had a conversation with a lawyer of a foreign law firm. That lawyer, who specializes in handling legal affairs of VIE financing on behalf of the investment side, told me that many startups would sign investment agreements proposed by investors directly without any argument. To be honest, I can hardly understand nor agree with this kind of practice. I think investors may actually feel ambivalence in face of such situation, too. On one hand, they can get more control over the invested business as well as other extra benefits. With probably unfair terms being included in an investment agreement, investors may be happy to have a favorable position in the relationships with startups. On the other hand, the investors are expecting to gain lucrative profits, so they may doubt whether the startups will be able to win fierce competitions of the market as they behaved so obediently when making investment agreements. This article talks about common points of financing negotiation between startups and investors as well as startups’ internal equity allocation issues.

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What do the First Valuation Adjustment Mechanism (VAM) Lawsuits in China Tell Us?

Analysis on the HF Fund’s lawsuits against Gansu Shiheng and Hong Kong Dia

(By Bai Lituan & Zhang Qianlin) In December 2012, HF Fund Management Co., Ltd. (the “HFF”) filed a lawsuit against Gansu Shiheng Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd (the “GSNM”), and after being heard by the Supreme People’s Court, the Court stated that the valuation adjustment Mechanism (VAM) would be considered partially valid. This particular case has been seen ups and downs, and now that it has finally been heard, we would like to share our opinions on it within a framework of legal analysis, and hope that it will help clarify any issues presented in the case and thus help to reduce the risks investors typically face.

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