Davis Polk Hong Kong Partner Moves In-House to Flagship Airline Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific said it is strengthening its risk management capabilities as threats from strategic and regulatory risks are increasing. Last year, it suffered the biggest data breach ever in the airline industry.
April 08, 2019 at 03:20 PM
3 minute read
Davis Polk & Wardwell Hong Kong partner Paul Chow will leave the firm and join Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong's flagship carrier, as its group general counsel.
Chow, who will start the newly created role in July, will advise Cathay Pacific's board of directors on all legal, regulatory and strategic risks, including corporate governance, dispute resolution and compliance. He will also join the airline's management committee.
At Davis Polk, Chow focused on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic investment transactions, privatisations and takeovers, as well as Hong Kong listings.
In 2017, Chow represented property developer China Vanke Co. Ltd. as part of a consortium of Chinese investors to take private Singapore-based warehouse operator Global Logistic Properties Ltd. for $11.6 billion. More recently, he advised the joint sponsors on Chinese biopharmaceutical company Innovent Biologics Inc.'s $421 million Hong Kong listing last October.
Chow leaves Davis Polk eight years after joining from Linklaters, when the Wall Street firm was building a Hong Kong law practice. He was a partner at Linklaters for five years and headed the Magic Circle's Beijing office before leaving for Davis Polk. Chow started his career with Slaughter and May as a trainee in 1995 and became a partner in 2004. Slaughter and May regularly advises Cathay Pacific and its biggest shareholder Swire group, a British conglomerate based in Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific, which also owns Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd. and cargo airline AHK Air Hong Kong Ltd., said in a statement that Chow would help the company strengthen its ability to identify and manage risk, as threats from strategic and regulatory risks are increasing.
In October, Cathay Pacific disclosed in a stock exchange filing it suffered a data breach that exposed personal information of 9.4 million customers, the biggest data breach ever in the airline industry. It made the disclosure seven months after it became aware of the attack. In November, Hong Kong's privacy watchdog said it was conducting a compliance investigation into the airline, examining whether it had taken security measures to safeguard customers' personal data.
Cathay Pacific, represented by Slaughter and May, is also currently completing a $628 million acquisition of budget airline Hong Kong Express Airways Ltd. from debt-laden Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co., which is expected to close by the end of the year.
Chow's departure will leave Davis Polk with 10 partners in Hong Kong, one of the largest U.S. firms in the city. Hong Kong partners Miranda So, James Lin and Li He, as well as Beijing partner Howard Zhang, also advise on Hong Kong-related mergers and acquisitions.
|Related Stories:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Ashurst Beijing Chief Representative Leaves for New York Boutique Sterlington
Baker McKenzie, Norton Rose & Other Top Litigators Foresee Rise in AI, Data & ESG Disputes
Axiom-Ince: SFO Charges Five, Including Former Head, Following Investigation
3 minute read
SDT Upholds SLAPP Claim Against Osborne Clarke Partner Advising Nadhim Zahawi
3 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
