A case in which Fangda Partners represented major creditors in the bankruptcy liquidation of a Tianjin real estate company was included in the work report of the Supreme People’s Court. In its 2025 work review section, the report noted that the Tianjin courts helped facilitate the resumption and continued construction of the long-stalled “117 Project” by adjudicating the bankruptcy liquidation case and lawfully disposing of the real estate company’s land use rights and other ongoing construction projects and assets. The project had been stalled for nearly a decade.
The “117 Project” is a landmark initiative for revitalizing existing assets in Tianjin and is the tallest skyscraper in the city. Before the bankruptcy proceedings, its core assets had remained idle and unfinished for many years. The bankruptcy liquidation case involved enormous creditor claims, intense interest-based negotiations among various creditors, and posed significant challenges both in terms of asset revitalization and creditor rights protection.
Fangda’s Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong offices worked seamlessly to comprehensively represent the client throughout the proceedings, and to develop and implement a comprehensive rights protection strategy for the project. First, in the bankruptcy liquidation proceedings, Fangda represented the client as a major creditor and participated extensively in communications and negotiations regarding the disposal and distribution plans of the bankruptcy estate, while also assisting the client in filing its creditor claims. Second, in litigation proceedings before Chinese courts, Fangda initiated comprehensive litigation on behalf of the client and secured favorable judgments against the debtor and related guarantors. The case involved a claim amount of approximately RMB 10 billion and spanned multiple jurisdictions, including Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR and the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Fangda engaged experts to issue legal opinions on the laws of Hong Kong SAR and the BVI. The team also pioneered a staged litigation strategy under which part of the claim and certain debtors were first pursued, followed by a single lawsuit against all debtors for the full amount of the debt. Third, on the investment side, Fangda assisted the client in providing super-priority financing for the “117 Project”, supporting the project’s resumption and continued construction. Fourth, Fangda assisted the client in filing claims in the Hong Kong insolvency proceedings relating to the relevant debtor.
Fangda’s Insolvency & Restructuring practice is grounded in the firm’s highly integrated service philosophy. It assembles teams with experts from various practice areas within the firm to design one-stop, comprehensive service solutions for clients. In addition to serving as bankruptcy administrators, we also represent clients in pioneering cases involving creditor rights protection and restructuring investments. As bankruptcy proceedings grow increasingly complex and balancing competing stakeholder interests becomes more challenging, our team members regularly serve in multiple key roles: bankruptcy administrator, creditor counsel, and investor counsel. Deeply familiar with every stage of the bankruptcy process, we excel at tailoring practical, implementable, and broadly acceptable rights-protection strategies to the specific circumstances of each project, thereby helping clients avoid zero-sum, mutually destructive outcomes.
The team on this case was led by partners CHEN Guanbing (Insolvency), QI Peibing (Dispute Resolution), WU Dong and Allen LIU (Corporate), Stephen LIN (Real Estate), and Peter YUEN (Hong Kong Dispute Resolution).
Team members included: Jasmine ZHAO, ZHOU Renjie, Celeste WANG, REN Erwei and Morgan HUANG from the Insolvency group; Eric DENG and Maria REN from the Dispute Resolution group; Lily FU from the Corporate group; Kyle SHU from the Real Estate group; and Arthur LAM from the Hong Kong Dispute Resolution group.
