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Paul Hastings Beijing partner and chief representative Nan Li is leaving the firm to join China-based Tian Yuan Law Firm in Hong Kong.

Li will start at Tian Yuan's Hong Kong associate firm as an equity partner next week. He arrives with additional team members from Paul Hastings' Beijing office who specialise in Hong Kong capital markets transactions.

Last year, he advised Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and China Merchant Securities as the joint sponsors on Chinese biotechnology company Ascletis Pharma's $400 million Hong Kong initial public offering. The deal was the first under a changed rule that allowed pre-revenue biotech companies to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In 2015-16, Li was part of the Paul Hastings team that advised state-owned China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. in a multibillion-dollar restructuring and merger with China Shipping Group.

Still in his late 30s, Li is among an emerging generation of Chinese-born lawyers trained at international firms, where they rose through the ranks. He has been a partner at Paul Hastings since 2013, having first joined the firm from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Li joins Tian Yuan as part of the Chinese firm's efforts to expand its Hong Kong law capital markets practice. With the arrival of the Paul Hastings' team, Tian Yuan will have more than 30 professionals in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong dedicated to a Hong Kong IPO practice, according to Fu Siqi, the firm's partner in charge of the Hong Kong practice.

"The addition of Nan Li and his team will help improve the quality and reputation of our Hong Kong practice among Chinese firms," said Fu. He also added that Li's return to a domestic firm corresponds to an ongoing shift of market share in Hong Kong IPO work from global firms to Chinese firms.

The Beijing-based firm first opened the Hong Kong office in late 2016 with Fu, a former Jingtian & Gongcheng partner, and ex-Clifford Chance counsel Liu Ning. In 2017, the office added Hong Kong law capability by forming an association with a local firm set up by former Shearman & Sterling lawyer William Ji. Both Liu and Ji also used to practise with Freshfields.

In March, Tian Yuan and William Ji & Co. represented Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. Ltd., as Chinese and Hong Kong counsel, respectively, on a $706 million rights issue on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

To complement its listing work, Tian Yuan also recently hired counsel Teresa Chu to handle Chinese clients' general Hong Kong corporate and commercial law needs. Chu also starts next week.

Tian Yuan is one of several Chinese law firms making a push for the Hong Kong law piece of their capital markets practice. Last week, Jingtian & Gongcheng announced its Hong Kong associate firm, L&C Legal, will officially become the firm's Hong Kong office by the end of April. This will enable Jingtian to provide Chinese and Hong Kong law advice under its own brand. Earlier this year, Shanghai-based Fangda Partners also combined with its associate firm in Hong Kong, following the hire of a Hong Kong capital markets team from Shearman & Sterling led by partner Colin Law.

In 2018, Hong Kong regained top spot as the world's leading IPO market, raising a total of $36.6 billion. A record 208 new companies were listed in Hong Kong last year, including seven responding to a major overhaul of listing rules in order to incentivise technology and biotech companies to list.

Paul Hastings did not provide information on Li's successor as Beijing office chief representative. In an emailed statement, the firm said it thanks former colleagues for their contributions to the firm, and is confident in the strength of its Greater China capital markets, private equity and M&A practices in its offices across Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

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