English High Court Judgment — Multi-Jurisdiction Recovery in Guangdong

Background: A UK financial services firm held an English High Court default judgment of £3.1 million against a Chinese national who had guaranteed corporate borrowing. The guarantor had returned to China and dispersed assets across Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan.

Challenge: The judgment was obtained by default, raising service-of-process issues. The debtor’s assets were spread across multiple Chinese cities, requiring coordinated enforcement.

Strategy: We carefully addressed the default judgment issue by demonstrating that the debtor had been properly served under English procedural rules and had chosen not to appear. We conducted extensive asset tracing across all three Guangdong cities, identifying bank accounts, real property, and equity interests. We filed recognition proceedings in the Guangzhou Intermediate Court, which had the strongest connection to the debtor’s assets.

Outcome: The court recognized the English judgment after satisfying itself on service and due process. Post-recognition, we pursued execution across all three cities through coordinated enforcement applications, recovering approximately 85% of the judgment amount.