The global financial crisis meant challenge and also opportunity to law practice. Tahota · Beijing grasped opportunity concerning investment bank business and actively kept pace with international market. As a result, it embraced a new development opportunity.

After half a year of communication and business contact, Tahota · Beijing decided to conduct long-term business cooperation with a century-long American investment bank, Sterne Agee & Leach Inc.. Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. was an American national-scale investment bank and securities brokerage firm with extensive foundation and providing comprehensive services. Founded in 1901, it was headquartered in the city of Birmingham in Alabama, the United States and it had branches and offices in 22 states of the United States. It was also a member of NYSE and SIPC. It was a recognized sales and trading company in the United States as well as a retail securities trading company focusing on clients. Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. managed clients’ assets worth USD 1.3 trillion. In recent three years. It invested in stocks of over 60 global enterprises publicly listed in the United States through private placement. Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. was one of American investment banks entering China at the earliest. It already helped many Chinese companies and satisfied their financial demands in capital market since 2003. For private equity investment of Chinese companies alone, Sterne Agee & Leach Inc brought USD 76 million to China. On October 27, 2008, standing director David B Brain and manager Sherry Ying of Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. were invited to Tahota · Beijing and talked with partner Lawyer Zhijun Shen and Lawyer Hongbin Zhou for 2 hours. The contents in three aspects were mainly determined:

Tahota · Beijing and Sterne Agee &Leach Inc. reached a preliminary consensus on the cooperation agreement of the two parties and decided to establish a long-term business cooperation partnership as well as establish a relatively fixed cooperation model and match their resources and business advantages with each other. This cooperation would enable the investment bank business of Tahota · Beijing to make a substantial move to American market.

After determination of cooperation model, the two parties communicated with each other concerning specific operation method and cooperation content of a certain private equity investment and listing project in Jiujiang. Sterne Agee &Leach Inc. showed great interest in this project and began to actively launch the early-stage work of project operation from then on. It would help Jiujiang Company to go public in the United States in the future. Tahota · Beijing would arrange a meeting between American investment bank personnel and two high-level management personnel from the project company on October 28 and October 31 respectively to further negotiate other project cooperation matters.

Bankruptcy and restructuring of several major investment banks of the United States resulted in the shift of abundant investment bank business to investment banks of the United States of medium size and above. Sterne Agee &Leach Inc. exactly grasped this opportunity and actively expanded Chinese market in China. As for Tahota Law Firm, cooperation with such a long-established American investment bank would offer strong competitiveness of our investment bank business in Chinese investment and financing market, which also laid a foundation for Tahota to expand its investment bank business.