Pingshan Li
Partner
Cleveland Co-Chair, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative
OverviewExperiencePublicationsPresentationsDistinctionsProfessional and CivicNews
Ping is a partner in the firm's Corporate Transactions & Securities practice group. He focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions; cross-border business transactions including international joint ventures; corporate finance; corporate governance and restructuring matters for both private and public companies; public company compliance and reporting; intellectual property matters; international trade and maritime law matters; and complex commercial litigation. He also represents Chinese companies in direct investment and expansion-related matters in North America, as well as U.S. companies doing business in China.
Prior to joining Thompson Hine, Ping was a partner with a Cleveland-based firm and led that firm’s China practice. Ping previously worked as a claim manager at China Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association in Beijing, where he represented shipowners and P&I clubs in maritime matters in Chinese and U.S. international ports.
Securities
- Represented a New York-based executive recruitment firm in its initial public offering and its listing on American Stock Exchange (originally AMEX, now NYSE MKT).
- Represented a Chinese energy company and its Nevada affiliate in the affiliate’s going-private transaction in the U.S. and later dissenting shareholders litigation.
- Represented a Chinese electrical equipment manufacturer and its Nevada affiliate in the affiliate’s going-private transaction in the U.S.
- Represented multiple publicly traded companies in their 1934 Act filings.
- Provided legal opinions regarding U.S. operations of multiple Chinese companies in connection with their going-public transactions in China and Hong Kong.
- Represented real estate developers, manufacturers and restaurant operators in their private offerings of exempt securities.
Mergers & Acquisitions
- Represented a China-based public company in its $8 million acquisition of a Portland, Oregon-based environmental technology company.
- Represented a China-based investment group in its $10 million minority investment in a U.S.-based laser technology company.
- Represented a China-based investment fund in its $18 million minority investment in a well-known Florida-based augmented reality (AR) technology company.
- Represented a publicly traded Japanese automotive parts supplier in its $80 million acquisition of an Ohio-based international machine tool supplier.
- Represented the owner of an Ohio-based chemical company in its $70 million sale to a Mexico-based strategic buyer.
- Represented a China-based investment group in its U.S. acquisition of real estate assets and restaurant development projects.
- Represented a Chinese real estate developer in its acquisition of a full-service hotel under the management of InterContinental Hotels Group.
International and Joint Venture
- Represented a NYSE-listed real estate company in the negotiation of a joint venture project in Las Vegas with a foreign real estate developer.
- Represented a NYSE-listed mining company in the negotiation of a joint venture mining project in Canada with one of the largest state-owned steel companies in China.
- Represented a U.S.-based medical group in structuring its offshore entities and the joint venture negotiation with a China-based hospital group.
- Represented trustee of a U.S.-based electrical wire manufacturer in dissolving its wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in China and liquidated all assets held by the WFOE.
- Represented a large U.S.-based automotive machinery manufacturer in the establishment of a WFOE in China.
- Represented a U.S.-based industrial washing machine manufacturer in the establishment of a WFOE in China.
- Acted as corporate secretary to a U.S.-Sino joint venture of global chemical tank container operator.
General Corporate
- Represented multiple publicly traded large Chinese automotive industry manufacturers in their establishments of U.S. subsidiaries and in risk management and compliance matters.
- Represented the U.S. trading subsidiary of the largest energy company in China in its general corporate, compliance and commercial matters.
- Represented a Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed biochemical company in establishing its U.S. subsidiary and in risk management and compliance matters.
- Managed various corporate clients’ U.S. federal court commercial litigations.
- “New Rules to Further Relax China’s Foreign Investment Registration Requirements,” Thompson Hine Business Law Update, Winter 2017
- “China: Corporate Tax Law Updates,” The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Journal, April 2011
- “Recent Developments in China’s Product Recall System,” Global Action, July 2009
- “Foreign Direct Investments in Ohio – Issues and Solutions,” May 2011
- “Current Legal Issues of Doing Business With China – Navigating Through a Legal Maze,” Ohio Global Summit, September 2010; Akron Bar Association, April 2011
- “Different Countries, Different Cultures,” Doing Business With China Seminar, September 2008
- Named to Ohio Super Lawyers’ Rising Stars list, 2016, 2017, 2018
- Named to Lawyers of Color’s Hot List, 2014
- Selected for Crain’s Cleveland Business’s “Who to Watch in Law,” 2014
Professional Associations
- Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, chair, International Section
- Greater Cleveland International Lawyers Group
- New York State Bar Association, International Section
- American Bar Association, China Committee, International Law Section, Business Law Section
- China Maritime Law Association
- Chinese Professionals and Entrepreneurs Association, Board of Directors
Community Activities
- VeloSano Cycling Event to Support Cancer Research at Cleveland Clinic