Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has advised China Literature, the e-publishing arm of Chinese tech giant Tencent, on its initial public offering in Hong Kong that is anticipated to raise as much as $800 million.
Han Kun Law Offices and Maples and Calder are also involved in the transaction, representing China Literature on legal matters related to PRC law and Cayman Islands law, respectively. Meanwhile, Clifford Chance and China’s Grandall Law Firm acted for the offering’s joint sponsors: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley.
Tencent controls China Literature with a 62 percent stake. Asset management firm The Carlyle Group LP owns 12.2 percent while Trustbridge Partners, a private equity firm founded by Shujun Li, the former CFO of entertainment media company Shanda Interactive, holds 6 percent.
Although deal’s structure was not disclosed, Tencent has said it plans to hold at least 50 percent of China Literature after the spinoff and that the offering will consist of 15 percent of the firm's enlarged share capital, reported Reuters. Davis Polk & Wardwell served as legal advisor to Tencent in the spinoff and global offering as a shareholder.
China Literature is raising funds as it seeks to grow its mobile reading business and make potential acquisitions. It has a business similar to Amazon's Kindle Store, operating a platform with 8.4 million literary works from 5.3 million writers, according to Reuters.
The lead partners for Skadden on the listing were Julie Gao, Christopher Betts and Haiping Li. Clifford Chance was led by China co-managing partner Tim Wang and partners Amy Lo and Fang Liu. Partners Mark Western and Lorraine Pao oversaw the deal for Maples.
