Hong Kong
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Fangda Partners has hired investment funds partner Yue Zhang from Kirkland & Ellis in Hong Kong.

Zhang advises private equity and other investment firms on fund formation, structuring and investment. He's acted for such clients as The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group,  energy investor First Reserve Corp., TPG Capital and China's CICC Capital.

He had been a partner at Kirkland's Hong Kong office since 2017, when he joined from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he was an associate. He joined Simpson Thacher in 2011 from Georgetown University Law Center. Before his law career, he worked at U.S. lender Capital One.

Zhang is the latest global firm partner to join Fangda. Earlier this year, the Chinese firm hired former Morrison & Foerster real estate partner Maria Wang in Shanghai. In Hong Kong, it hired former Shearman & Sterling capital markets partners Colin Law and Peter Chen last year.

A private funds practice will add to Fangda's traditional strength in private equity investment. The firm is one of the earliest domestic firms to represent foreign private equity houses in Chinese investment. Venture capital investment between China and the U.S. is expected to rise as bilateral direct M&A continues to decline due to tensions between the two countries. According to a recent report by the Rhodium Group, U.S. venture capital investment in China hit a record $19 billion in 2018, doubling the 2017 figure ($9.4 billion).

Shanghai-based Fangda Partners is one of the most profitable domestic firms in China. In 2017, it reported $1.13 million in profits per partner among 90 equity partners; the firm had $169.5 million in revenue, making it the ninth-highest-grossing firm that year in China. Currently, it counts more than 600 fee-earners across offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

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