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.
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