Recently, the Supreme People's Court released the third batch of typical cases for foreign-related commercial and maritime mediation. A JunHe case that successfully resolved a cross-border cross-shareholding dispute and helped the Chinese and foreign enterprises move forward was selected as a typical case. The dispute involved a Korean health industry group, a Chinese health investment company, shareholders such as He Moumou and a Shanghai medical company. 

The inclusion of this as a typical case by the Supreme People's Court reflects the judiciary's high regard for diversified dispute resolution systems in foreign-related commercial disputes and highlights the unique value of mediation in resolving cross-border disputes. Through a ‘packaged’ mediation plan, cross-border cross-shareholding issues were resolved and concluded after almost a decade of international litigation, achieving a result of ‘one case resolved, multiple cases eliminated’. The successful case provides a demonstrable Chinese solution for international commercial dispute resolution, showcases China's inclusive wisdom in the rule of law and highlights the country’s judicial credibility to the international community.

This case originated from a cross-border joint venture established in 2016 by the client and the health company to explore the Chinese medical beauty market. According to the joint venture structure, the health company invested RMB 290 million overseas to acquire equity from the client, and both parties jointly established a Sino-foreign joint venture enterprise domestically. In the later stages of cooperation, due to differences in business philosophy and issues such as transactions not being approved by the board of directors, the foundation of cooperation was lost, and the company fell into a governance deadlock.

Faced with a complex situation spanning China and South Korea and multiple lawsuits and arbitration with a total amount of RMB 310 million, JunHe’s team did not limit themselves to only respond to individual cases. Before initiating litigation, the team designed a company deadlock response plan, laying the foundation for the subsequent litigation. Over nearly ten years, JunHe successively represented the client in both China and South Korea. They initiated a series of proceedings including entrusted management disputes, shareholder information rights lawsuits and shareholder capital return lawsuits. They coordinated multi-line strategies to form a complete response chain covering prevention, response and remedy. After being heard by the Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court, the shareholder capital return lawsuit was reviewed by the Supreme People's Court and in 2025 it was publicly heard at the Shanghai International Commercial Court. The trial was presided over by Shen Hongyu, the Chief Judge of the Fourth Civil Tribunal of the Supreme People's Court and an international commercial court judge. Over 80 people attended including national people's congress representatives and foreign experts. During the trial, JunHe’s lawyers won high praise from the panel and the Chinese and foreign guests for their solid legal expertise and rigorous work.

After the trial and under the leadership of the Supreme People's Court, the JunHe team fully leveraged its cross-jurisdictional coordination advantages and cooperated with the foreign lawyers to handle the complex technical details. This included the integration of company laws between China and South Korea and calculation difficulties caused by exchange rate fluctuations. With a precise grasp of the legal issues and excellent negotiation skills, JunHe facilitated the parties to reach a final settlement agreement. This agreement resolved the cross-border cross-shareholding relationship, allowed the client to recover the originally transferred overseas equity, smoothly exit the domestic joint venture and achieve a successful cross-border investment exit. Over a decade, from transaction structure design to deadlock resolution, from litigation and arbitration to negotiation and mediation, JunHe provided comprehensive legal services covering the entire lifecycle of the cross-border joint ventures from establishment, operation and deadlock, to exit. Multiple mainstream legal media journals reported on the case with headlines such as 'Supreme Court International Commercial Court Resolves Cross-Border Cross-Shareholding Disputes Between Chinese and Foreign Companies in a Package'.

The lead partner for this case was JIN, Xinghui and the managing partner was QI, Da (David). The main project members were CHEN, Yuwei, SHEN, Cheng and HAN, Wenji.