Dezan Shira to Open Branch in Qingdao

June 30, 2010 Posted by China Briefing Reading Time: 2 minutes

Jun. 30 – Dezan Shira & Associates, the specialist foreign direct investment practice, is opening a branch office in Qingdao.

“We have been servicing clients in Qingdao for over 10 years,” says the firm’s principal, Chris Devonshire-Ellis, “and the time is now ripe for us to cement our relationship with the city by establishing a fully capitalized branch to better service and expand our business in the region.”

The firm is committed and currently sourcing city center locations. “Once fit out is completed, the firm should be operational by early September,” says Devonshire-Ellis. “We have already recruited staff who are undergoing familiarization training with us in Beijing and Dalian.”

The branch will come under the jurisdiction of Dezan Shira & Associates’ North China regional office in Beijing, which also has the practice’s Dalian office under its wing. It brings the total number of China offices for the firm to 10. The regional manager is Adam Livermore, while the regional partner is Sabrina Zhang.

Qingdao is a major Chinese port city on the east coast and is an important hub for the manufacture and export of garments, agricultural products and light machinery. It was an old German treaty port in the early 1900s and still retains a German style and characteristics. Home of one of China’s best known international brands, Tsingtao Beer, the city hosts the popular Qingdao Beer Festival every year, and is also developing as a popular yachting center.

The firm’s Qingdao office will provide business advisory, corporate establishment, tax, accounting and due diligence services to foreign investors in the city. “The global financial crisis put some of our development plans on hold for 18 months” says Devonshire-Ellis, “but we are now getting back to where we want to be and will continue to develop and expand our China practice into the second and third-tier cities. Qingdao gives us the northeast coastal avenue and means we can also service the port city of Yantai as well as it is equidistant between Dalian and Qingdao. We are also very interested in taking a position in West China and are evaluating opportunities for a permanent presence in Chengdu at this moment. We remain bullish on China and expect to see more foreign investment arriving as the domestic consumer market opens up further and the return for investments in markets in Europe and the United States remain slow.”

Dezan Shira & Associates established their first China office in Shenzhen in 1992. The practice also maintains five offices in India, two in Vietnam, and has close ties with Russia in addition to producing business publications and intelligence for each of these markets.

Related Reading
Business Guide to Beijing and Northeast China
(184 pages – includes Beijing, Dalian, Qingdao, Anshan, Changchun, Dandong, Harbin, Jilin, Jinan, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Weihai, Yantai and Zibo)