Investors regain golf course
A group of high-profile foreign investors has regained control over a multi-million-dollar housing and golf course development in Shanghai after an unusual five-year legal battle in numerous jurisdictions around the world.
The inability of the city government to solve the dispute for many years had puzzled foreign business leaders in Shanghai, a city that has prided itself on its efficiency in dealing with overseas investors.
The investors, led by a division of HSBC, Deutsche Bank and H&Q Asia Pacific, the private equity group, said that they had obtained the title to and control over the development, known as the Shanghai Links. “We are glad to see that justice has finally prevailed,” the investors added. The dispute pitted the investors, who put $50m into the project, against two Canadian brothers, Barry and Stuart Hansen, who initiated the US-style retreat with a golf course, homes and an American school on 350 acres of land in the Pudong district in 1997.
The investors later accused the Hansen brothers of fraud and pursued them in a series of protracted and Byzantine court actions in the UK, China, France and the Turks & Caicos Islands.
In 2002, the High Court in London ruled that the Hansen brothers were “unprincipled businessmen” who had “forged” documents, and awarded damages totalling $66.5m to the international investors.
The court said that the Hansens had claimed to have paid $33m as their share to purchase the land for the development a down payment that encouraged the other investors to come into the project when in fact they had only paid $260,000.
“ Soon after the investors injected their money, things started to go wrong,” the investors said.
In spite of the UK court ruling and two successful applications by the investors in the Turks & Caicos Islands for a receiver to be appointed to run the development company, the Hansens managed to retain control over the golf course and sell memberships in it until recently.
At one stage during the dispute when the city government was split into two warring camps a private investigator acting for one of the parties was detained by the local authorities.
However, local support for the Hansens appears to have finally run dry in recent months, with Shanghai officials abandoning them and backing the investors in their campaign to get title over the golf course.
Despite the delay, the investors may be able to turn a profit from the venture because land and housing prices have more than doubled since they put their money in, giving them control over a much more valuable asset.
The Hansen brothers could not be contacted for comment. Shanghai is one of the largest recipients of foreign investment in China and has long been held up as a city in which overseas companies like to do business. 上海高尔夫球场的马拉松官司
编者按：在房产销售火爆的中国，几乎所有房产商都想到利用高尔夫球场进行楼盘开发。除了让别墅沾上点贵族气息外，还能够降低房产开发成本。
经过历时 5 年的诉讼，官司打到了全球各地，一些外商投资者终于重新获取了上海一处住宅和高尔夫球场的开发权。
这场诉讼一拖多年，上海市政府却无法解决，这让上海商界领袖们感到困惑。毕竟，上海市一向以能够高效率地和外商打交道著称。
投资方主要有汇丰（ HSBC ）银行一部门、德意志银行（ Deutsche Bank ）和私人资本集团汉鼎创投公司 (H&Q Asia Pacific) 。他们说自己获取开发区土地的所有权和控制权，开发区名称是上海林克斯（ Shanghai Links ）。“我们很高兴地看到，正义最终还是获胜了，”投资者补充说。这些投资者投入了 5000 万美元开发本项目，但却陷入一场争议。争议的另一方是两个加拿大兄弟巴里?汉森（ Barry Hansen ）和斯图亚特?汉森（ Stuart Hansen ）。这两人于 1997 年开始，在上海浦东一片 350 公顷土地上开发美式度假区，其中包括一个高尔夫球场、住宅和一所美国学校。
投资者后来控诉汉森兄弟欺诈，并开始了一场漫长而复杂的诉讼，诉讼地包括英国、中国、法国、特克斯和凯科斯群岛（ Turks and Caicos Islands ）。
2002 年，伦敦高等法院判定汉森兄弟为“不法商人”，称他们“伪造”文件，并要求他们赔偿 6650 万美元给国际投资商。
法院还说，汉森兄弟宣称自己已经投入了 3300 万美元，作为首付款购买这片土地，以此吸引投资者，事实上，他们只付出了 26 万美元。
“等到投资者把钱付出去，情况开始不妙起来，”投资者说。
国际投资商们在英国打赢了官司，而且在特克斯和凯科斯群岛也两次成功地申请到破产接管权，可以派人接管开发公司，但汉森兄弟仍继续掌握高尔夫球场控制权，继续出售会员证，这一局面直到最近才告一段落。
在这场纠纷中间的某个时期，上海市政府分成了两大阵营。其间还有一个私人调查者被当局拘捕，此人是为阵营的其中一方做事。
但是，最近几个月，汉森兄弟在本地的后台越来越弱，上海官员开始抛弃他们，转而支持国际投资商，帮助他们获取高尔夫球场的土地所有权。
尽管此诉讼旷日持久，投资者或许还可从投资中赢利，因为自他们投资以来，上海的土地和住房价格早已翻了一番，所以他们现在控制下的资产价值提高了很多。
我们无法联系到汉森兄弟，无法得知他们的看法。上海是中国最大的外商投资地之一，而且长期以来，一直是外国企业乐于来做生意的城市。
