In December of 2004, the International Lawyers Network and IBM collaborated to find solutions for IBM’s real estate questions. These issues arose as a result of the sale of IBM’s worldwide personal computer division to Beijing-based Lenovo Group, Ltd., a deal valued at $1.75 billion US.
The IBM-Lenovo transaction created the third-largest PC manufacturing company after Dell and HP. Since Lenovo Group’s business activities had previously been limited to China, the company lacked the international infrastructure that would provide them with marketing and distribution operations to easily acquire IBM’s PC division. As a result, IBM took a prominent role in the transition.
They needed to determine how best to structure the transaction with regard to the offices and employees that would be shifting to Lenovo. The real estate portion of the transaction required four types of documentation, with the most innovative being a licensing agreement that would allow new Lenovo employees to remain stationary for twelve months, gradually relocating to their new offices. The license permitted Lenovo to use the space that the employees were physically located in, without giving them a discrete piece of property. Alan Wolfert, the Associate General Counsel for IBM, is responsible for all of the company’s international real estate concerns. He wanted to know if the concept of a real estate license would be acceptable in all of the countries involved and where IBM would have to register documents in a particular country, if at all. To get a timely and attentive response in a multitude of jurisdictions simultaneously, Mr. Wolfert turned to the International Lawyers Network.
Lowell Lifschultz of Epstein Becker & Green, PC, the ILN’s New York member and founding firm, presented the ILN to his long-time client as a controlled and unified solution to his international needs. “For middle market matters in a variety of jurisdictions, using the offices of the ILN with the extraordinary mental database they have about the Network’s firms can get your problem solved in a timely manner, with the attention and care that it deserves. This attention and care, combined with the collective knowledge the Network provides, gives our clients a better service than could be found with a multinational firm,” Mr. Lifschultz said in support of the ILN’s collaborative efforts.
Sixteen of the Network’s firms provided IBM with preliminary assistance. Gadens Lawyers in Sydney, Australia; Braunegg, Hoffmann & Partner in Vienna, Austria; Nehring e Associados Advocacia in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Robinson Sheppard Shapiro in Montreal, Canada, Fogler Rubinoff LLP in Toronto, Canada; Lehman, Lee & Xu in Beijing, China; Konig Homann & Erichsen in Copenhagen, Denmark; Lefèvre Pelletier & associés, Avocats in Paris, France; Goehmann Wrede Haas Kappus & Hartmann in Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Singhania & Partners in New Delhi, India; Studio Legale Lupoi in Rome, Italy; Martinez, Algaba, Estrella, De Haro y Galvan-Duque, S.C. in Mexico City, Mexico; Udink & De Jong in The Hague, Netherlands; Goodwins Law Corporation in Singapore; Hellstrom & Partners in Stockholm, Sweden; and Arnold Wehinger Kaelin & Ferrari in Zurich, Switzerland gave Alan the benefit of their combined expertise.
The ILN’s unique ability to coordinate this activity with a central office was the driving force behind the ILN’s success with IBM. Alan Griffiths, the Network’s Executive Director, mobilized the ILN members quickly and efficiently in a way that would be difficult, if not impossible, at a large multinational firm. By doing so, the ILN assisted Mr. Wolfert in gaining the necessary insight into this issue and enabled him to move forward with adjusting the documents accordingly. The nature of the ILN and the relationships among its members and the Administration also helped Mr. Wolfert to gain greater attention for this smaller matter than would be available at a large multinational law firm.
“The strength of the International Lawyers Network lies in the ability of each member to rapidly reach a large group of international experts with whom Network members have long-standing professional and personal relationships,” says Mr. Griffiths. “Because of these personal relationships, the ILN is able to offer its firms’ clients the same reassurances and benefits of a large multinational firm, without losing the personal touch of a midsize law firm. In the case of IBM, Epstein Becker & Green’s membership in the Network provided Lowell with the ability to confidently access a seamless, highly professional, highly qualified pool of attorneys, enabling him to successfully assist IBM in their cross-border transactions.”
