Maples and Calder has laterally hired Harney Westwood & Riegels’ head of Hong Kong office to co-lead the firm’s British Virgin Islands (BVI) practice in Asia.
Michael Gagie started his new role at Maples working alongside Barry Mitchell in the Maples’ Hong Kong office on 1 September. Gagie’s areas of practice include corporate, banking, structured finance and commercial. Both Gagie and Mitchell spent a number of years living and working in the BVI before moving to Asia.
Gagie joined Harneys in 2003, making partner in 2006. He regularly advised on BVI corporate listings on international stock markets including the AIM exchange in London and NASDAQ in the USA. Prior to that, he worked for US law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges and UK firm Simmons & Simmons in London, specialising in mergers and acquisitions. Gagie also spent time on secondment at the London Stock Exchange and as in-house counsel for Shell International.
“[Gagie’s] arrival could not have come at a better time as the market prepares for the first listings of BVI-incorporated companies on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange,” joint managing partner of Maples and Calder in Hong Kong, Christine Chang said.
A popular corporate domicile for Asian businesses due to its cost advantages over other offshore jurisdictions, BVI companies were the second largest source of foreign investment in China, at US$5.8bn in the year to June 2009.ALB
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