Professional profile
About Sara
Non-equity Partner | Foreign direct investment; M&A; corporate governance; labor and employment; compliance and investigations
Sara Xu is a non-equity partner in Dacheng Law Firm's Nanjing office whose principal practice areas are investment and M&A, corporate governance, labor and employment, and compliance and investigations. Her professional profile describes sustained work for foreign-invested companies in automotive, chemical manufacturing, medical devices, education and other sectors, making her especially relevant to multinational companies operating manufacturing and R&D businesses in Nanjing and the wider Yangtze River Delta.
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Sara's corporate and foreign direct investment work includes advising foreign-invested enterprises on establishment, restructuring, investment and daily operations. Publicly described client work includes R&D and testing businesses invested by major international automotive groups, brake-system and foundry companies established by European automotive component groups, German-invested technical-service and household-appliance businesses and other foreign-invested manufacturers. This type of practice requires counsel to understand the operational reality of a multinational group rather than only entity formation.
Her M&A capability is closely connected to that foreign-investment work. A foreign buyer acquiring a Chinese manufacturing company needs to review corporate structure, registered capital, employees, commercial contracts, compliance history, licenses and operational controls. After closing, the buyer then needs to integrate the target into a global governance structure. Sara's stated combination of corporate, employment and compliance practices is well suited to this integration phase.
Her labor and employment experience includes advice on employee documentation, policies, employee transfers, workforce restructuring and other employment matters connected with corporate operations. In an acquisition or restructuring, employment liabilities can materially affect transaction economics. Misclassified employment relationships, social-insurance issues, unenforceable non-competes, inconsistent handbooks and pending disputes may all become buyer risks after closing.
Sara's compliance and investigation practice adds another layer. Foreign-invested manufacturers face risks involving distributor conduct, gifts and entertainment, conflicts of interest, procurement fraud, data handling and internal approval failures. Corporate compliance diligence must therefore test whether the target's written policies reflect actual business processes. A beautifully drafted code of conduct has limited value if vendor onboarding, approval thresholds and investigation procedures do not work in practice.
This integrated practice is increasingly important under recent Chinese legal developments. The revised Company Law has changed the registered-capital framework and strengthened governance concepts. The revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law, effective in 2025, modernizes rules relevant to commercial bribery and unfair competition. Labor Dispute Interpretation II, also effective in 2025, affects mixed employment, non-compete and social-insurance disputes. A foreign buyer entering a Chinese industrial transaction needs to consider all three systems.
Sara's experience with foreign investors also means she can help bridge the communication gap between overseas headquarters and local China management. Headquarters may ask whether a target is “compliant,” but China counsel needs to translate that broad question into a specific test of contracts, corporate authority, workforce practices, anti-bribery controls and evidence.
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