Asia Deal Digest: June 2019

• Debevoise, Akin Gump, Cleary and Linklaters on Alibaba's $2 billion Russian joint venture. • Clifford Chance, Linklaters on the first London-Shanghai share listing. • Squire, Milbank on a Chinese solar farm operator's $468 million Hong Kong listing.

June 21, 2019 at 01:50 PM

4 minute read

By John Kang, The Asian Lawyer

Asia Deal Digest, published periodically, is a compilation of some of the largest deals carried out in Asia.

China/Hong Kong

• Debevoise & Plimpton Hong Kong partner Edwin Northover is advising Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on a joint venture in Russia called AliExpress Russia JV, with Russian internet company Mail.ru Group Ltd., Moscow-based telecommunications operator MegaFon PJSC and Russian sovereign-wealth fund Russian Direct Investment Fund. Debevoise Washington, D.C., partner Satish Kini and London-based James C. Scoville are also advising Alibaba on the deal. The deal, which according to media reports is worth $2 billion, was approved by Russian regulator the Federal Antimonopoly Service earlier this month. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld London partner Artem Faekov is advising Mail.ru. He is supported by Moscow partner Vladimir Kouznetsov and London partner David Sewell. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is advising MegaFon. Linklaters is representing the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

• Clifford Chance partners Iain Hunter and Maggie Zhao in London, Amy Lo in Hong Kong, Tim Wang in Beijing and Jean Thio in Singapore advised Chinese brokerage Huatai Securities Co. Ltd. on a $1.54 billion listing on the Shanghai section of the London Stock Exchange in a first-of-its-kind deal under the new Shanghai London Stock Connect Programme. Fangda Partners served as Chinese counsel to the issuer. The issuer plans to use the majority of the proceeds to grow its international businesses and expand overseas. Linklaters partners Pam Shores and Tom Thorne in London and John Xu in Shanghai represented Credit Suisse, HSBC, Huatai Financial, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley as the bookrunners. King & Wood Mallesons advised the banks on Chinese law. [Read Full Story]

• Squire Patton Boggs represented Chinese solar farm operator Xinyi Energy Holdings Ltd. on a $468 million initial public offering in Hong Kong. Grandall Law Firm served as Chinese counsel to the issuer. The issuer plans to use the majority of the proceeds to fund the acquisition of solar farm projects in China. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy Hong Kong partner David Kuo advised BNP Paribas, CICC, HSBC and Kingsway Financial Services Group as the joint global coordinators. The banks were advised by Deacons on Hong Kong law and JunHe on Chinese law.

• Davis Polk & Wardwell Hong Kong partners Bonnie Chan and Li He advised Haitong UniTrust International Leasing Co. Ltd., a financial leasing subsidiary of Shanghai-based brokerage Haitong Securities Co. Ltd., on a $298 million initial public offering in Hong Kong. Grandall Law Firm's Shanghai office served as Chinese counsel to the issuer. The issuer plans to use the majority of the proceeds to expand its financial leasing and factoring businesses. Clifford Chance partners Tim Wang in Beijing, Jean Thio in Singapore and Virginia Lee in Hong Kong represented Haitong International Securities, CICC, Citigroup and CMB International as the joint sponsors. Jia Yuan Law Offices advised the banks on Chinese law.

• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partners Grace Huang and Stephen Revell in Hong Kong and David Ludwick in London advised Frontage Holdings Corp., a Chinese contract research organisation for pharmaceutical companies headquartered in Pennsylvania, on a $204 million initial public offering in Hong Kong. AnJie Law Firm served as Chinese counsel to the issuer. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius advised the issuer on Pennsylvania state law. The issuer plans to use the majority of the proceeds to expand capacity and capabilities and upgrade facilities in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Shanghai. Shearman & Sterling partners Matthew Bersani and Alan Yeung in Hong Kong and Laurence Crouch in Menlo Park represented Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs as the joint sponsors. Jia Yuan Law Offices advised the banks on Chinese law.

• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advised Mabpharm Ltd., a Chinese biotech company based in Taizhou of Jiangsu province, on a $153 million initial public offering in Hong Kong. Commerce & Finance Law Offices served as Chinese counsel to the issuer. The issuer plans to use the majority of the proceeds to build new production facilities and for research and development. Eversheds Sutherland Hong Kong partner Amy Yu represented CICC as the sole sponsor. Zhong Lun Law Firm advised the bank on Chinese law.