Shearman & Sterling has hired a Hong Kong corporate and securities partner after losing the majority of its local law capital markets team to Chinese and other global firms.

Max Hua will arrive from Haiwen & Partners, where he has been a partner for the past two years. Hua, who is a native Mandarin Chinese speaker, advises on Hong Kong listings, mergers and acquisitions and other corporate finance transactions related to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Before joining Haiwen in 2017, he practiced with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as an associate for six years.

Hua's hire is part of Shearman's efforts to rebuild a Hong Kong law capital markets practice from major losses. Last year, former partners Colin Law and Peter Chen left with four other lawyers to join Chinese firm Fangda Partners in Hong Kong. Law and Chen were the U.S. firm's main partners specialising in Hong Kong law equity capital markets deals. Before and after their departures, more lawyers on the Hong Kong law equity side left for other firms, including Jingtian & Gongcheng and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

At Shearman Hong Kong partners Matthew Bersani and Alan Yeung this year advised on medical research company Frontage Holdings Corp.'s Hong Kong initial public offering, which in May raised $204 million. Both Bersani and Yeung are dual-qualified in the U.S. and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Bersani is also advising on a proposed $500 million Nasdaq listing of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group's sports unit.

Hua's departure adds to Haiwen's recent exits from its 2-year-old Hong Kong office. Earlier this month, the office's founding partner Guiping Lu left to join K&L Gates as a Hong Kong partner. With both Lu and Hua gone, Haiwen's Hong Kong office is left with one locally qualified partner: disputes lawyer Danny Leung, who joined the firm in January from Hogan Lovells where he had been counsel.

Shearman & Sterling and Haiwen did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

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