Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Jingtian & Gongcheng have advised Chinese bottled water and beverage company Nongfu Spring's on its $1.08 billion initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with Clifford Chance and Tian Yuan Law Firm representing the joint sponsors and underwriters.
According to Reuters, Nongfu Spring offered 388.2 million shares, 7 percent of which will be sold in Hong Kong and 93 percent on the global market. Shares began trading on Sept. 8.
The IPO, which will value Nongfu Spring at more $31 billion, is one of the largest in Hong Kong, and the world's second largest by a food and beverage company so far this year.
Nongfu Spring ranked first in the packaged drinking water market in China by market share for eight consecutive years from 2012 to 2019, according to industry research. It was among the top three players in the tea beverage, functional beverage and juice beverage segments in China by retail sales during 2019.
The Clifford Chance team was led by partners Tim Wang, Liu Fang and Tianning Xiang, while partners Richard Wang and Calvin Lai led the Freshfields team.
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