Asia Deal Digest: September 2019
• Slaughter and May, Cravath on HKEX's $37 billion bid for LSE. • Skadden, Sullivan & Cromwell on Japanese recruitment giant's $3.3 billion secondary offering. • Norton Rose Fulbright, Allens on $1 billion Australia baby formula deal.
September 27, 2019 at 03:30 AM
4 minute read
Asia Deal Digest, published periodically, is a compilation of some of the largest deals carried out in Asia and Australia.
China/Hong Kong
• Slaughter and May corporate partners David Watkins and Victoria MacDuff in London, and Peter Brien and Jing Chen in Hong Kong, are advising the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. on a $36.6 billion bid for the London Stock Exchange Group Plc. Chen rejoined Slaughter and May this year as a partner after a two-year stint at the HKEX. The offer was rejected by the LSE on September 13, but, according to media reports, HKEX is appealing directly to LSE shareholders and has until October 9 to make a formal offer. The Slaughter and May team also includes London partners Jan Putnis advising on financial regulatory matters, Lisa Wright on competition and foreign investment issues, Ed Fife and Harry Bacon on financing matters, Gareth Miles on tax matters, Charles Cameron on pension matters and Padraig Cronin on employment matters. Cravath, Swaine & Moore partners Richard Hall in New York and Philip Boeckman in London are serving as U.S. counsel for the HKEX. They are assisted by New York partner Christine Varney on antitrust matters.
• Belgian beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV has revived its plans to list its Asia business, Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd., in Hong Kong. The issuer priced to raise $5 billion, half the amount it was aiming to raise in its first attempt in July, which it cancelled due to unfavourable market conditions. Since June, Hong Kong has been shaken by anti-government protests. The new listing excludes its Australian business, which is being sold to Japanese brewer Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. for $11.3 billion, and adds Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC as a cornerstone investor. Sullivan & Cromwell partners Francis Aquila in New York, John Horsfield-Bradbury in London and Kay Ian Ng in Hong Kong and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partners Teresa Ko in Hong Kong, David Ludwick in London, Valerie Ford Jacob in New York and Vincent Macq in Brussels are advising Budweiser Brewing, while Clifford Chance partners Virginia Lee and Amy Lo in Hong Kong and Jean Thio in Singapore are representing the joint sponsors.* [Read Full Story]
• Freshfields Hong Kong partner Grace Huang and Singapore partner Arun Balasubramanian advised Chinese drugmaker Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. on a $400 million listing in Hong Kong. Henlius was advised by Llinks Law Offices on Chinese law and Meridian Attorneys-at-Law on Taiwanese law. Henlius is a subsidiary of Shanghai-based conglomerate Fosun International and plans to use the majority of the proceeds to fund clinical trials. Sidley Austin Hong Kong partner Mengyu Lu and Singapore partner Matthew Sheridan advised CICC, Merrill Lynch, CMB, Fosun Hani Securities and Citigroup as the joint sponsors. Jia Yuan Law Offices Shanghai partner Chen Jie and Guangzhou partner Wu Jingqian advised the banks on Chinese law.
Japan
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom Tokyo partner Kenji Taneda represented Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd., one of the largest staffing agencies in the world, on a $3.3 billion secondary offering. Mori Hamada & Matsumoto served as Japanese counsel to the issuer. Sullivan & Cromwell Tokyo partner Keiji Hatano advised Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Nomura, Mizuho, Goldman Sachs and SMBC Nikko Capital Markets as the underwriters. Anderson Mori & Tomotsune advised the banks on Japanese law. [Read Full Story]
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