Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has hired Maurice Hoo as a partner and co-head of the firm’s global Private Equity practice. Hoo was a partner at Paul Hastings for five years before this and had headed the China private equity practice there. He brings with him a client base comprised of some of the world’s top equity funds and financial institutions that he helped with in investments in China and other parts of Asia. He also currently serves as counsel to the China Venture Capital Association and the China Real Estate Developers and Investors Association.

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Lovells Beijing managing partner Robert Lewis has left the firm just before the firm’s impending merger with Hogan & Hartson to join Shanghai-based AllBright Law Offices as a senior legal consultant. Foreign lawyers are legally not allowed to be partners at domestic law firms in China. He will continue to interact with his former Lovells co-workers through the Sino-Global Legal Alliance (SGLA), a referral group he helped establish three years ago. SGLA is comprised of 13 Chinese firms along with Lovells.

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In recognition of the bumper crop of M&A and equity market deals worked on over the past year, Freshfields won three awards at the ALB China Law Awards: won M&A Deal of the Year, Equity Market Deal of the Year and International Law Firm of the Year.The firm seized its M&A and Equity Market Deal Awards for its role on China Minsheng Bank’s blockbuster US$3.2bn Hong Kong IPO and GCL Poly’s innovative takeover of Jiangsu Zhongneng, respectively.

On the other hand, King & Wood collected five trophies, winning China Law Firm of the Year 2010, Equity Market Deal of the Year, Insolvency & Restructuring Law Firm of the Year, Insurance Law Firm of the Year and Managing Partner of the Year, more awards than any other firm.

ALB China Shanghai Law Awards 2010 – the big winners

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Deal flow is still active throughout Asia, particularly China, the most resilient emerging market in the current global economic downturn.  Included below are some of the most newsworthy capital markets, M&A, energy, private equity and finance deals of 2009 and 2010, with Asia’s IPO volume and search for oil and other raw materials leading the region’s recovery.

2010

So far in 2010, Asia has seen considerable growth in funds, including BoCom’s (Bank of Communications) announcement this February of its aim to raise $250 to $500 million in the three months for a China private equity fund.  This would be the largest fund raising effort by a mainland company since 2007.

IPOs have also continued its positive growth into 2010; here are a few notable and recent IPO deals in 2010:

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Research from RSG Consulting has shown that the US presence in India has steadily increased, even though UK firms are still the most visible in India. US firms made up 53 per cent of all firms mentioned by Indian firms.“There are now far more US firms involved in India,” said RSG managing director Reena SenGupta. “There’s a fat head of magic circle firms but then a long tail of large US firms, because it’s a bigger investment destination. They also prefer to work with US firms because they think they’re cheaper.”

The exclusive alliances between UK and Indian firms also contribute to the US gains since UK firms are reluctant to pass work to rivals.

US firm Baker & McKenzie is the firm that has most improved its footing in India, behind Linklaters, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance.

Commerce & Finance, DeHeng, Tian Yuan and King & Wood have all ranked in the top ten of the mergermarket’s 2009 table of legal advisers to Greater China M&A, with Commerce & Finance being the top ranked firm.

According to mergermarket, last year’s largest M&A deal was China Yangtze Power’s US$15 billion acquisition of the China Three Gorges Project power generators, which DeHeng and Tian Yuan both advised on.
“The M&A market will definitely continue to boom in 2010. We have our eyes on state-owned-enterprises this year and are confident that there will be more action from these major players,” commented Liu Yan, a partner at Tian Yuan. “However, whether or not we will excel, fall behind or maintain our ranking in this league will depend largely on our competitors – and many other contributing factors. Until then, no one will know for sure,” she added.

The total value of 2009 Greater China deals was US$421.4 billion, an increase of 5% from the previous year. Six out of the top ten deals were in the renewable energy and resources sectors.

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Paul Hastings has appointed Toshiyuki Arai as chair of its Tokyo branch.  Arai has been with the firm for almost 20 years and specializes in the cross-border investment and M&A.   With his new position, Arai will oversee the strategic development of the firm’s considerable but expanding Tokyo base.

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White & Case has hired Francis Zou, a lawyer from Allen & Overy’s US China group, to be a partner in its global banking practice. He is expected to help bridge the firm’s US and Asia banking practices, and his extensive experience with Chinese clients is expected to bring in new clients.

Global banking head, Eric Berg, stated: “He has significant background working with top Chinese commercial banks and corporations that will greatly increase our cross-border opportunities for serving these companies, especially as they ramp up their activities in the US and other key markets, including Asia and Latin America.

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Linklaters has represented Morgan Stanley, UBS and VTB Capital as the joint lead managers on OAO TMK’s convertible bond issue – the first by a Russian-incorporated company for several years. OAO TMK is one of the world’s largest steel pipe producers. The five-year bond was issued to refinance debt. The advising team was led by Dmitry Dobatkin, Peter Allen, Alexandra Karachourina and Graeme Dickson.
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ATMD, Bird & Bird and VILAF advised AirAsia, a low-cost carrier, with its joint venture with Vietnam’s Vietjet Aviation. The joint venture will allow AirAsia to establish a foothold in Vietnam for the first time. AirAsia acquired a 30% share in Vietjet, and will set up a new airline called Vietjet AirAsia which will offer both international and domestic flights by mid-2010. Bird & Bird’s team was led by head of aviation Paul Briggs and advised AirAsia, while Singapore partner Tay Beng Chai and associate Natalie Goh were involved for ATMD. VILAF acted as Vietnam counsel to AirAsia.
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Haldanes, Wilkinson & Grist and Stephenson Harwood advised on the ‘litigation case of the century’ representing parties involved in the claim to the estimated US$12 billion estate of Hong Kong millionaire Nina Wang, Asia’s wealthiest woman before her death in 2007. Haldanes represented -proclaimed feng-shui master Tony Chang, who claimed to be Wang’s lover and the inheritor of her entire estate, according to a will Wang allegedly drafted in 2006 that he had. That will was set against the will that she had drafted in 2002, which bequeathed her estate to Chinachem Charitable Foundation, a foundation that she and her late husband Teddy established in 1988. Wilkinson & Grist represented CCF, and emerged victorious when evidence was presented that showed that some signatures in the 2006 will were forgeries. Stephenson Harwood’s Hong Kong-based Jason Toms and London-based Stephen Davis were acting for Deloitte, the administrators of Nina Wang’s estate, and observed the proceeding as a neutral party.

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The top deals in Asia last year reveal that practicing corporate law in Asia continues to be a lucrative career choice, with the big firms doing billions worth of business in China, Japan and India.

Some of the biggest deals were initial public offerings. Haiwen & Partners represented China State Construction Engineering Company (CSCEC), China’s largest construction company, in a $6 billion IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the largest A-share IPO since 2007, and the country’s fifth-largest IPO ever.

Morrison & Foerster’s Hong Kong office represented UBS, JPMorgan, and CITIC in a $1.3 billion IPO of China Zhongwang, one of Asia’s biggest manufacturers of extruded aluminum products. The deal made Zhongwang’s chairman into one of China’s richest people.

M&A was again a hot practice area, with Clifford Chance in on top deals between China Minmetals/OzMetals as well as Delta/Buma and Royal Group/Millicom. Davis Polk & Wardwell represented Nikko Cordial Securities in its sale to Sumitomo Mitsui.

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Linklaters has promoted London-based partner Stuart Salt to managing partner of its Asia offices. This move comes in response to the current managing partner Zili Shao taking a position at JP Morgan, a firm client.

Salt is currently the head of the firm’s Europe, Middle East and North Africa (EMENA) operations, but he will step down in that office once a successor has been found.

He will move to the Hong Kong office to supervise the firm’s six offices in Asia comprised of 300 lawyers. Salt’s experience in the Middle East will be used to help direct the growth of the Asia region. “Cross-border activity between Asia and the EMENA region is now a major area of global investment and our clients are at the forefront of this,” said Salt.

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Minter Ellison has hired Yi Yi Wu, a partner at Shanghai-based Rolmax Law Office, to replace the position of chief representative of the Shanghai office left vacant by Wan Li’s move to DLA Piper.

“I hope to bring an international perspective to the firm’s work in this region. My focus will be to work closely with our offices in Hong Kong, Australasia and the UK to continue to raise the profile of our China practice,” Wu said.

Wu joined Minter Ellison in 2001 and started off at the Melbourne office, but was acting chief representative of the Shanghai branch in 2002. She specializes in M&A, foreign direct investment, corporate finance, and employment and real estate sectors.

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