Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Zhong Lun Law Firm have advised China internet heavyweight NetEase on its $2.7 billion secondary listing in Hong Kong, with Davis Polk & Wardwell and JunHe advising the joint underwriters.
Founded in 1997, NetEase now has different service sectors comprising online gaming, education, music and e-commerce platform. It was listed on Nasdaq twenty years ago, in June 2000.
NetEase is the latest to follow Alibaba, who underwent a mammoth secondary listing of $11.3 billion in Hong Kong in last November, for a close-to-home secondary listing.
This IPO also set a new record in Hong Kong with a shortest completion time of only three months. In its earlier regulatory filings, NetEase said it planned to use the proceeds to fund its international expansion plans.
According to Reuters, NetEase’s deal is expected to be one of several large secondary deals in Hong Kong this year. Charles Li, CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, said he expected 2020 to be “a big year” for what he called “returnees” from U.S. markets.
Maples and Calder acted as offshore legal counsel in the deal.
CICC, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan were joint underwriters.
The Skadden team was led by partners Julie Gao, Christopher Betts, Paloma Wang and Li Haiping; while the Zhong Lun team led by partners Anthony Zhao, William Jia, and John Shen; the Davis Polk team was led by partners He Li, James Lin and Chu Yang, meanwhile the JunHe team was led by partners Wang Jiangang, Yu Yongqiang, Yi Yisong and Teng Xiaoyan, with assistance from partner Li Chenliang.
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