Clifford Chance has acted opposite Latham & Watkins on the $1.2bn Hong Kong IPO of China's Huishang Bank, as a string of Chinese lenders begin to list in the city.

The IPO is the third by a Chinese bank in the last month, following that of Huirong Financial, which raised $106m on the exchange, and Bank of Chongqing, which raised $546m.

Huishang, which began trading in Hong Kong on Tuesday, sold a total of 2.61bn H-shares priced at HKD3.53 each.

The deal represents the biggest IPO by a Chinese bank in Hong Kong since Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank raised $1.7bn in its listing three years ago.

Representing the issuer on the deal was US outfit Latham & Watkins, fielding a team of 11 led by corporate partner Cathy Yeung and Hong Kong office managing partner Michael Liu, who advised on Hong Kong law.

Eugene Lee in Hong Kong also assisted on US law, whilst Los Angeles partner Samuel Weiner advised on tax matters.

Magic circle firm Clifford Chance acted for the underwriting banks, which included BOC International, CITIC Securities, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Haitong International.

Corporate partners Tim Wang and Cherry Chan in Hong Kong were lead partners on the deal, supported by a team of eight including capital markets partner Jean Thio who advised on US law.

Latham's Michael Liu commented: "This is a high quality PRC bank IPO deal and we expect a lot more activities in this space. Without exceptions, all these deals are complex."

Huishang Bank is a regional, commercial lender based in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, and founded in 2005.

It is the largest city commercial bank in Central China by total assets, loans and deposits, and one of several looking to bolster its balance sheets through a Hong Kong listing, according to Reuters.

International firms also scored roles for the other two banks who recently launched Hong Kong IPOs.

Paul Hastings and King & Wood Mallesons were lead advisors on that by Huirong Financial, whilst Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Sullivan & Cromwell advised on the listing by Bank of Chongqing.