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22 ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL www.inhousecommunity.com

ASIAN-MeNA CouNSel

Spurred by a sound, continuing recovery from the global financial crisis, the Asia-MENA region enjoyed stellar mergers and acquisitions activity in 2010 against a backdrop of record-breaking activity in the capital markets. According to Citigroup, outbound M&A for Asia

excluding Australia and Japan hit a record US$126 billion, up 166 percent on 2009. Total M&A volume, including inbound deals, climbed by almost 50 percent to a staggering US$470.5 billion.

The Financial Times, quoting Dealogic, reported that US$163.2 billion was raised through 768 Asian initial public offerings last year, a dramatic increase from just US$ 70.2 billion in 354 listings in 2009. Business analysts believe the impressive figures are a result of growing investor confidence. These trends are reflected in our winning deals, with M&A and capital markets transactions accounting for well over half (58 percent) of the total for the year.

The size of deals in the region has been steadily increasing too, with transactions worth more than US$1 billion up from 91 in 2009 to 144 last year, according to Citigroup’s figures. Of our 34 winning deals, 30 are valued at US$1 billion or above.

Activity increased in the latter half of the year, giving investment bankers high hopes that the high levels of activity would continue this year, the FT reported. There was a corresponding rise in our winning deals in October and November.

In our sixth annual Deals of the Year 2010, ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL is pleased to recognise the biggest and best deals from December 2009 to November 2010. The deals were selected on the basis of innovation, complexity, size and uniqueness, from more than 800 submissions received from firms across Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

As China’s economic influence continues to grow, it is no great shock that many of the winning transactions involve Chinese companies flexing their muscle. Their relentless appetite for overseas natural resources assets continues unabated, with several of our deals involving Chinese lenders financing various energy projects.

As ever, deals of an exceptional nature which did not make the final cut have been awarded honourable mentions for their overall excellence. For ease of reading, firms which participated in the recognised deals – which are listed chronologically by date of completion – have been grouped together by parties represented, and then listed alphabetically. Congratulations to all those, both in-house and external, who worked on our winning deals!

Deals ofThe YearThe Best From 2010

23 Volume 9 Issue 1, 2011

Cover Story

ASIAN-MeNA CouNSel

DeCeMBeR 2009

ATIC’s acquisition of Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing

Practice Areas: M&ADeal Value: US$4.26 billion

Firms and their clients: • Shearman & Sterling: representedAdvanced

TechnologyInvestmentCompany(ATIC)• WongPartnership: advisedATIC• Allen & Gledhill: representedChartered

SemiconductorandTemasekHoldings(Private)• Latham & Watkins: representedChartered

SemiconductorandTemasekHoldings(Private)• Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow:advised

DeutscheBankAG,Singaporebranch• Allen & Overy: representedCreditSuisse• Shook Lin & Bok:advisortoMorganStanley,the

financialadvisertoCharteredSemiconductor

Theendof2009sawthebiggestM&AdealoftheyearinSingapore in termsof value. It involved complex

regulatory issues inSingapore, theUnitedArabEmiratesandtheUnitedStates,asthetargetcompanywaslistedonboththeSingaporeExchangeandtheNasdaqGlobalSelectMarket. The acquisition was by way of a scheme ofarrangementunderSection210oftheSingapore CompaniesAct and the transaction involved debt and convertibleredeemable preference shares.ATIC iswholly owned bytheGovernment ofAbuDhabi, and the deal represents astrategicacquisition in thehighlycompetitiveandcapitalintensiveadvancedtechnologysector.

Hitachi’s global offering

Practice Areas: Equity, Capital MarketsDeal Value: US$3.88 billion

Firms and their clients: • Davis Polk & Wardwell: advisedHitachiastointerna-

tionallaw

• MoriHamada&Matsumoto:advisedHitachi as toJapaneselaw

• AndersonMo-ri&Tomotsune:Japanesecounseltotheunderwriters

• Sullivan&Cromwell:internationalcounseltotheunderwriters

Hitachi’sfirstofferingofcommonstockin27years,andoneof the largestbya Japanesenon-financial

institution, this deal raised almost US$4 billion despitegloomymarketconditions. Itcoveredan issuingofmorethanabillioncommonstocksharesinoffshoretransactionsoutside the United States pursuant to Regulation S, andinside the USA in a private placement. The technologygiant concurrently offered convertible bonds in a publicoffering in Japan. It isquite rare foran issuer tomakeadomesticofferingofconvertiblebondsaspartoftheover-all offering.The dealwas also uncommon in that itwasstructuredtotakeadvantageofaspecialSection4exemp-tion,whichallowedtheunderwriterstoconducttheprivateplacement of shares in the USA. It presented particularchallenges because of the scope of Hitachi’s businessactivitiesandthoseofitsmorethan1,000subsidiariesandaffiliates. The offering was also innovative in that theJapanese prospectus unconventionally contained detaileddescriptionsofpastacquisitions,strategiesandriskfactorssothatJapaneseinvestorshadaccesstothesamelevelofdisclosureastheirinternationalcounterparts.

Shape 2 Mumbai slum rehabilitation project

Practice Areas: Real Estate, Capital MarketsDeal Value: Approx. US$110 million

Firms and their clients: • White&Case:representedDeutscheBankasarranger,

DBTrusteesandoffshoreinvestors• Amarchand & Mangaldas:onshoreadviserto

DeutscheBank• DSK Legal:advisertoAckrutiCityLimited

Shape2isaslumrehabilitationprojectwhoseconstruc-tionwillprovidefreehousingandservicesfor30,000

www.inhousecommunity.com24 ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL

Cover Story

slumdwellerhouseholdsinMumbai,India.Thisdealwasamong the first significant post-financial crisis real estatefinancingtransactionsbyaninternationalfinancialinstitu-tion. The Slum Rehabilitation Scheme (SRS) was intro-ducedalmost20yearsagobythegovernmentofMaharashtra:in return for constructing residential buildings for slumdwellers,thedeveloperisgrantedtherighttodevelopapor-tion of former slum land for their own purpose, therebyimproving the lives of the poor in a commercially viablemanner.MorethanhalfofMumbai’s17millioninhabitantsliveinslumareas.Sinceitsformation,AckrutiCityLimited(ACL)hasdelivered12,000freehomesundertheSRSwithanother10,000underconstruction.Thefinancing transac-tion was particularly complex, involving offshore fixed,fully convertible, unsecured INRdenominateddebenturesandbespokeinter-creditorarrangements.

JANuARY 2010

GNPower Mariveles power plant project

Practice Areas: Project FinanceDeal Value: Approx. US$1 billion

Firms and their clients: • Abuda Asis & Associates: advised lenders as to

Philippineslaw• Century-Link&Xin JiYuan LawOffice: advised

lendersastoPRClaw• HoganLovells:advisedChinaDevelopmentBank,

ChinaExportandCreditInsuranceCorporation(Sinosure)andaconsortiumoflenders

• PicazoBuycoTanFiderSantos:advisedlendersastoPhilippinelaw

• Run Ming Law Office: advised the borrower as toPRClaw

• SyCipSalazarHernandez&Gatmaitan:advisedtheborrowerastoPhilippineslaw

• Latham&Watkins:advisedDenhamCapitalManagement,aprojectsponsor

• Puno&Puno:advisedDenhamCapitalastoPhilippineslaw

• MilbankTweedHadley&McCloy:advisedthe

borrower,GNPower,astoUSandEnglishlaw• Allen&Overy:advisedSitheGlobalPower,asponsor• Hunton&Williams:advisedPowerPartners,aspon-

sorastoNewYorklaw• SimpsonThacher&Bartlett: advisedBlackstone, a

sponsorastoNewYorklaw• Walkers:legaladvisorytosponsors(Cayman

Islandslaw)

TheendofJanuarysawthelargestPhilippinegreenfieldpowerprojectfinancinginoveradecadeasaconsor-

tiumoflendersputupUS$1billionfora600MWcoal-firedpower facility to be constructed by GNPowerMarivelesCoalPlantCo.onLuzonIsland.Thedealrepresentedthefirstlimitedrecourseoffshorepowerprojectfinancingledby China Development Bank and Sinosure, and the firstlarge-scale power project conducted under the ElectricPower Industry ReformAct of 2001. It involved highlycomplexsimultaneoussame-dayprojectandlanddebt,andequityclosings,andunlikemostPhilippinedeals,enjoyednogovernmentsupportorguarantees.Thetransactionhasaunique‘hybridmerchantpower’structurewithnosinglepower purchaser but numerous offtakers under multiplelong-termpowerpurchaseagreements.Theplantwillcon-sistoftwoidentical300MWpowerblocksusingPulverizedCoal Combustion technology and is expected to providesignificant benefits to the local community by reducingelectricitycosts,aswellasprovidingjobsandsubstantialeconomicstimulus.

United Company Rusal’s Hong Kong IPO


Firms and their clients: • Ashurst:advisedRusalastoEnglishlaw• ClearyGottliebSteen&Hamilton:advisedRusalas

toEnglish,US,andFrenchlaw• Egorov,Puginsky,Afanasiev&Partners:advised

RusalastoRussianlaw• JunHeLawOffices:advisedRusalastoPRClaw• SidleyAustin:advisedRusalastoHongKonglaw


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• Sullivan&Cromwell:advisedRusalastoUKandUSlaws

• Linklaters: advisedtheunderwriters• Dewey&LeBoeuf:advisedSual,aRusalshareholder

At the beginning of 2010, United Company Rusal(Rusal) issued its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock

Exchange main board with a concurrent listing on theParis-based Euronext. This marks the first ever HongKong-Parisduallistingforanycompany.BasedinRussia,Rusal is the world’s largest producer of aluminium. Thelisting also represents Hong Kong’s first ever primaryofferingbyaRussiancompany.

FeBRuARY 2010

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) joint equity offering and self-tender offers

Practice Areas: Capital Markets, M&ADeal Value: Approx. US$11.1 billion (equity offering)/US$3.8 billion (self-tender offers)

Firms and their clients:• Davis Polk & Wardwell:advisedSMFG• NagashimaOhno&Tsunematsu:advisedSMFGand

SumitomoMitsuiBankingCorporation (SMBC)as toJapaneselaw

• Linklaters: advisedthejointglobalcoordinatorsastoJapaneselaw

• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett: advisedthejointglobalcoordinatorsandthedealermanagersastoUSlaw

• Maples&Calder:advisedSMFG’sCaymanIslandssubsidiaries

SMFG’sglobalcommonstockofferingwasnotonlythelargestnon-IPOequityofferingtodateinJapanlastyear,

itwaspartofalargercapitalrestructuringbySMFGwhichincluded simultaneous tenders for two series of perpetualpreferredsecuritiesandtwoseriesofperpetualsubordinatedbonds.Theofferingwasconductedasaninternationaloffer-ing and a domestic offering in Japan.The four concurrentself-tenderoffersmarkedthefirstinstanceofCaymansub-

sidiariesofaJapanesecompanytenderingforhybridsecuri-ties.Thetransactionwascomplexanddemandedinnovativesolutions. In particular, close coordination was requiredbetweenlegalteamsinJapan,theUS,theCaymanIslands,theUK,IrelandandSingaporeinordertonavigatetheinter-section of US securities laws and Cayman corporate law.Further, the structure of the Cayman Islands subsidiariesrequiredfundstopassthroughseveralintermediateentities,requiringcarefultaxanalysisinmultiplejurisdictions.

MARCH 2010

Interstate Hotels & Resorts acquisition

Practice Areas: M&ADeal Value: US$305 million

Firms and their clients:• Baker & McKenzie: advisedShanghaiJinJiang

InternationalHotelsGroup• King&Wood:PRCcounselforShanghaiJinJiang

InternationalHotels• HoganLovells:USCounselforThayerLodgingGroup• Paul,Weiss, Rifkind,Wharton&Garrison: repre-

sentedInterstateHotels&Resorts

Thislandmarkdealwasthefirstoverseasacquisitionbya Chinese hotel chain as Shanghai Jin Jiang

InternationalHotels,China’sbiggesthoteloperator,boughtNYSElistedInterstateHotels&ResortsforaboutUS$305million.Theacquisitionentailedtheformationofa50:50joint venture called Hotel Acquisition Company, withThayerLodgingGroup,anAmericanrealestateinvestmentfirm.HotelAcquisitionCompanyacquiredallof theout-standingcommonstockandoperatingpartnershipunitsofInterstatefor$2.25pershare.InterstateistheUS’slargestindependent hotel management company. The deal washeralded as a pioneering example of Chinese companiesacquiringdistressedUSbusinesses.Thedealbroughtwithit some unique challenges because of China’s outboundM&AlegislationandthelimitedabilityforChinesebidderstoobtainapprovalspriortoexecutionofadefinitiveacqui-sitionagreement.


http://www.amt-law.com

2010

ASIAN-MeNA CouNSel

Salalah independent water and power project, Oman

Practice Areas: Project finance, infrastructureDeal Value: US$1 billion

Firms and their clients:• HoganLovells:advisedSembcorpUtilities• Shearman & Sterling: advisedtheChineselenders• Trowers & Hamlins: advised the local and interna-

tionallenders• SNRDenton:advisedtheawardingagency• Dewey&LeBoeuf:advisedDhofarPowerCompany

Targetedtobeginfullcommercialoperationsinthefirsthalfofnextyear, theSalalahIWPPwillconsistofa

gas-fired power plant which will have a net capacity of445MW and a seawater desalination plant which willemployreverseosmosistechnologytoproduce15millionimperialgallonsofwatereachday.Itissettobethelargestandmostenergy-efficientpowerandwaterplantinsouth-ernOmanand isSembcorpUtilities’ second such invest-mentintheMiddleEast.Theco-sponsorof theproject isOmanInvestmentCorporation.The funding isbeingpro-videdpredominantlybyChinese lenders, includingChinaDevelopment Bank and Bank of China, and local andregional financial institutions. It is an important dealbecauseitisthefirsttimethatChinesebankshaveprovidedthelargestshareoffundingcomparedtothelocalcurrencytranche and the international banks’ dollar tranche. ThisreflectsthegrowinginterestthatChinesefinancialinstitu-tionshaveintheMiddleEastregion–atrendmanyana-lysts expect to continue.The bidding and financing tookplaceduringthecreditcrunch,requiringaninnovativeandcomplexfundingsolution.

Paiton III power plant project

Practice Areas: Project financeDeal Value: US$1.3 billion

Firms and their clients:• Skadden,Arps,Slate,Meagher&Flom&Affiliates:

representedPTPaitonEnergyCorp(Indonesia)• Latham & Watkins:representedthelenders

• Shook Lin & Bok: SingaporecounseltoIPMAsiaPte,oneofthesponsorsofPaiton

• Baker & McKenzie. Wong & Leow: advised PLN(Stateownedelectricityutilitycompany)

• Hadiputranto,Hadinoto&Partners:advisedPLN

AtatotalcostofaroundUS$1.5billionfundedbydebtandequity inan80:20ratio, theprojectcomprisesa

single815MWcoal-firedunitwhichwillbelocatedintheexisting Paiton power generating complex in East Java,Indonesia.Itisexpectedtobefullyoperationalnextyear.ThelendersaretheJapanBankforInternationalCooperation(JBIC), which is providing direct loans totaling US$729million,andaconsortiumofcommercialbankscontribut-ingUS$486million.The financing isprovidedunder theJBICOverseasInvestmentLoanprogrammeandcomprises17-yearnon-recourseloans.PaitonIIIisbeingconstructedunder a fixed-price contract, with Mitsubishi HeavyIndustriesthemainequipmentsupplier.

APRIl 2010

Dai-ichi Life Insurance IPO

Practice Areas: Capital Markets Deal Value: US$11 billion

Firms and their clients:• SimpsonThacher&Bartlett:representedDai-ichiLife• Nishimura&Asahi:Japanesecounseltotheissuer• AndersonMo-ri&Tsunematsu: Japanese counsel to

theunderwriters• Sullivan&Cromwell:UScounseltotheunderwriters

ThisUS$11billionInitialPublicOfferingwasthelargestinJapansincetheUS$18.4billionIPOofNTTDoCoMo

in1998,andatthetimewasthelargestintheworldfortwoyears.ThedealsawDai-ichiLife–thesecondbiggestprivatesector life insurer inJapan in termsof totalassetsandpre-miumincome–demutualiseandissueanIPOontheTokyoStockExchangeandaglobalofferingtoinstitutionalinves-tors pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S. The stocksurgedby14percentonitsopeningdayoftradinginTokyo.Dai-ichiLifesaiditsswitchfrommutualtostock-basedown-ership was calculated to increase fundraising options for


Blake Dawson is proud of its involvement on Asia’s best deals of 2010

www.blakedawson.com

We would like to thank our clients for the privilege of working with them on some of Asian-Counsel’s best deals of the past year. Our aim is to provide the highest quality legal advice and a seamless service across our offices in Australia and Asia to ensure our clients are successful in achieving their objectives.

adelaIde bRIsbanecanbeRRamelboURnePeRTHsYdneYPoRT moResbYsHanGHaIsInGaPoReTokYoassocIaTed oFFIce JakaRTa

awaRded asIan-coUnsel deal oF THe YeaR 2010 FOR:

• PetroChina’s joint venture bid with Royal Dutch Shell for Arrow Energy

• PNG LNG Project Financing

ASIAN-MeNA CouNSel

acquisitionsandpartnershipsduringatimeofstagnanteco-nomicgrowthinJapan.Thecompanysold7.2millionsharesat 140,000yeneach.The internationalofferingwas ledbyMerrill Lynch International,Nomura International,MizuhoInternationalandGoldmanSachsInternational.

Nippon Mining business integration with Nippon Oil

Practice Areas: M&ADeal Value: Approx. US$12 billion

Firms and their clients:• Davis Polk & Wardwell: advisedNipponMining• MoriHamada&Matsumoto:advisedNipponMining

astoJapaneselaw• Nishimura&Asahi:JapanesecounseltoNipponOil• Shearman & Sterling:UScounseltoNipponOil• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett:counseltoNippon

Mining’sfinancialadvisors• Morrison&Foerster:counseltoNipponOil’sfinan-

cialadvisors• Sullivan&Cromwell:counseltoNipponOil’sfinan-

cialadvisors• Ropes&Gray:representedfinancialadvisor,

NomuraSecurities

InApril,twoofthebiggestplayersinJapan’senergyandresourcessector,NipponMiningHoldingsandNippon

Oil Corporationmerged their businesses through a sharetransfer to form a holding company called JXHoldings.The shares of the joint holding companywere registeredwiththeUSSecuritiesandExchangeCommissionandarelistedontheTokyoStockExchange.Itwasoneofthelarg-estmergersofinJapanesehistory,andhadtobepostponedforanentireyearsolelyduetothecomplexitiesofUSlegalstructuring and SEC registration issues, according to aNippon Oil statement. The merger was designed to cutcosts of 100 billion yen (US$1.01 billion) annually as aslumpinfueldemandhasforcedrefinerstoreduceoutputandcloseplants.Thecompanieswereaimingtoimplementa shift from the refining business towards growth areassuch as fuel cells and solar panels,NipponOil chairmanFumiakiWatarisaidinaninterviewlastyear.

MAY 2010

Global air cargo surcharge cartel

Practice Areas: AntitrustDeal Value: US$104 million

Firms and their clients:• WilmerHale:representedLufthansa• Yulchon:representedLufthansa• Boies,Schiller&Flexner:representedNorthwestAirline• Kim&Chang:representedVietnamAirline,Northwest

AirlineandUPSSCS• Morrison&Foester:representedUPSSCS

InMay2010,theKoreaFairTradeCommission(KFTC)ruledagainst21majorinternationalcarriersinacaseof

globalcollusionoversurchargesforaircargo.Inwhatwasthe biggest global cartel case it has handled to date, theKFTCimposedfinestotallingaroundUS$104millioninacaseinvolvingnumerouscomplexantitrustlawissues.The21aircargotransportationcarrierswerefoundtohavecol-laboratedinordertoincreasethepriceofthefuelsurchargebetweenDecember 1999 and July 2007 on routes to andfromSouthKorea.The casewasmade particularly com-plex by the sheer number of defendants and witnessesinvolved.Accordingtomediareportsatthetime,morethan50airlineexecutivesfromaroundtheworldwereinvesti-gatedanditwasthefirsttimetheKFTChadconductedajointinvestigationwithforeignantitrustagencies.

Papua New Guinea Liquefied Natural Gas (PNG LNG) project financing

Practice Areas: Project Finance, EnergyDeal Value: US$13 billion

Firms and their clients:• Blake Dawson:advised the financiers,comprising34

commercialbanksandcreditagencies• Latham & Watkins:internationalcounseltothefinanciers• Baker McKenzie: advisortothecontractor,Saipem


n AIG and AIA Group Limited (AIA) in AIA’s U.S.$20.5 billion initial public offering and listing in Hong Kong (Deal of the Year)

n Headland Capital Partners (formerly HSBC Private Equity (Asia) Limited) in its management buyout of HSBC’s Asian private equity fund management business (Honourable Mention)

Complex issues inspire us. We excel at crafting elegant solutions for our clients’ complex problems throughout the world.

Debevoise’s Asia team is committed to and understands the needs of our Asian and international clients. Our local knowledge and experience, together with our 700 lawyers throughout Asia, Europe and the United States, allows us to provide our clients with the right solutions to their challenging issues – from complex cross-border M&A and capital markets transactions to innovative insurance and reinsurance products.

Contacts:

Hong Kong+852 2160 9800

Thomas M. Britt III

Andrew M. Ostrognai

Shanghai+86 21 5047 1800

E. Drew Dutton

Niping Wu

London+44 20 7786 9000

Jeremy G. Hill

James C. Scoville

New York+1 212 909 6000

John M. Vasily

Nicholas F. Potter

We thank our clients for the opportunities that have made this honour possible.

“ Asian-Counsel Deal of the Year 2010 Award Winner ”

Photo: marin.tomic/Flickr/Getty Images

Asian Counsel Deals of the Year 2010.indd 1 2/23/2011 11:41:08 AM

ASIAN-MeNA CouNSel

• HoganLovells:EnglishlawcounseltoEssoAustralia• Allen & Overy: advisedtheIndependentStateof

PapuaNewGuinea• AllensArthurRobinson:actedascounseltolocalsponsor• Sullivan & Cromwell: counsel to the project and

itssponsors

AtastaggeringUS$13billion,thiswasthelargestgreen-fieldprojectfinancingintheworldatthetimeoffinan-

cialcloseandisthebiggestloanfacilityinhistoryforanoiland gas project. The PNG LNG project is an integrateddevelopmentthatwillincludegasproductionandprocess-ing facilities in the Southern Highlands and WesternProvincesofPapuaNewGuinea. It is expected tohave acapacityof6.6milliontonsperyear,withover700kilom-etersofpipelinesconnectingthefacilities,andisbyfarthebiggestresourcesdevelopmentPapuaNewGuineahaseverseen.Afterproductioncommencesin2014,it isestimatedthatoverthe30yearlifetimeofthefacility,morethanninetrillioncubicfeetofgaswillbeproduced.PNGLNGwillsupplyliquefiednaturalgastofourmajorAsiancustomersthrough long-term sales: Chinese Petroleum Corporation,Taiwan;OsakaGasCompany;TheTokyoElectric PowerCompany;andUnipecAsiaCompany,asubsidiaryofChinaPetroleumandChemicalCorporation(Sinopec).Theprojectis a key part of ExxonMobil’s strategy to tap growingdemandfornaturalgasmarketsglobally.Theenergygiantexpectsdemandfornaturalgastomorethandoubleby2030in theAsia Pacific region.Natural gas can helpmeet thegrowingneedforelectricityandithasfewercarbondioxideemissionsthanotherfuelsources.

Samsung Life Insurance’s IPO and Korean listing

Practice Areas: Capital MarketsDeal Value: US$4.4 billion

Firms and their clients:• Kim&Chang:KoreancounseltoSamsung

LifeInsurance• Shin & Kim: counseltotheunderwriters• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett:representedtheunderwriters• ClearyGottliebSteen&Hamilton:UScounseltothe

issuerandthesellingshareholders

ThelargestKoreanIPOatthetimeandoneofthelarg-estinthewholeofAsiasawSamsungLifeInsurance

launchanofferingofmorethan44millioncommonsharesinKoreaandasimultaneousinternationalplacement.ThisdealalsorepresentedthelargesteverIPObyaKoreanlifeinsurancecompany.SamsungLifeisaflagshipunitwithinSouthKorea’slargestconglomerate,SamsungGroup.Thecompanyprovidescoveragetomorethanaquarterof theKoreanpopulation.Asof the pricingdate,SamsungLiferankedsixthintermsofmarketcapitalisationamongcom-panieslistedontheKoreaExchange.

JuNe 2010

Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of Zain’s African operations

Practice Areas: M&ADeal Value: US$10.7 billion

Firms and their clients:• AZB & Partners:advisedBhartiAirtel• HerbertSmith:internationaladviserstoBhartiAirtel• Milbank,Tweed,Hadley&McCloy:advisedBharti

Airtelonfinancingarrangements• Linklaters: internationaladvisertoZain• Allen & Overy: advisertoStandardCharteredBankas

mandatedleadarranger

In June, BhartiAirtel, India’s biggest wireless carrier,purchased the 15-country African assets of Kuwait’s

MobileTelecommunicationsCo, also known asZain, forUS$10.7 billion.The acquisition of a 100 percent equitystakeinZainAfricaBVmadeBhartitheworld’sfifthlarg-est wireless communications company with operationsacross18 countries.Thedeal representedoneof the firstmajorinvestmentsinAfricabyanIndiancompany.ItwasalsothesecondlargestoutboundinvestmentanywherebyanIndiancompanyandthesinglebiggestbyanIndianfirmin the telecom sector. By enteringAfrica, Bharti gainedaccesstoapopulationofabout470millionpeoplefromtheAtlanticcoasttotheIndianOcean,withjustoverathirdofthemmobilephoneusers.Thedeal cameasBharti’swasstruggling in India with sliding profits and difficulty


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attractingnewcustomers,accordingtomediareportsatthetime.Thetransactionrequiredskillfulnegotiationsinmorethan15 jurisdictions, eachhavingcomplex regulations inthetelecomssector.

Karara iron ore project financing

Practice Areas: Project Finance, Energy and ResourcesDeal Value: US$1.2 billion

Firms and their clients:• CliffordChance:internationalcounselforthemandated

leadarrangers• JunHeLawOffices:PRCcounselforthemandated

leadarrangers• MallesonsStephenJaques:actedforChinaDevelopment

BankandBankofChinaasjointleadarrangers• ClaytonUtz:counselforGindalbieMetalsLtd(co-spon-

sorandguarantoroftheProject)• NortonRose: counsel forAnshan Iron andSteelGroup

Corporation(co-sponsorandguarantoroftheproject)

• Wright&Cooney: counsel forKararaMining Limited(theborrower)

This was the first and largest deal in the AustralianmarkettohavebeenarrangedexclusivelybyChinese

banks andwhere a Chinese bank acted as facility agent,security trustee and account bank. China DevelopmentBankandBankofChinawerethejointleadarrangersoftheUS$1.2billionsyndicatedprojectfinancefacilitytoKararaMining. The loans were to finance the development ofKarara’smagnetiteandhematiteironoreminesandassoci-ated rail infrastructure inWesternAustralia.At 12 years,the tenor of the facility is unusually long for a projectfinancing and the margin is highly competitive. TheapprovalgrantedbyAustralia’sForeignInvestmentReviewBoard(FIRB)markedthefirsttimeithasgrantedpermis-sionforforeignstate-ownedbankstobothparticipateinafinancingand,ifnecessary,enforcetheirsecurityovertheborrower’sAustralian assets.The project is owned 50:50byGindalbieMetalsandAngangGroupInvestment,asub-sidiaryofAnshanIronandSteelGroupCorporation.


Cover Story

JulY 2010

Agricultural Bank of China’s dual listing

Practice Areas: Capital Markets Deal Value: US$22.1 billion

Firms and their clients:• Allen & Overy: acted for the international underwriting

syndicate• Herbert Smith: advised the underwriters as to Hong

KongLaw• King & Wood:advisedtheunderwritersastoPRCLaw• Anderson Mo-ri&Tomotsune:Japanesecounselfor

theissuer• Davis Polk & Wardwell: UScounseltoABC• DehengLawFirm:advisedABCastoPRCLaw• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer: advised ABC as to

HongKongLaw• Linklaters:counselastoJapaneselawforjoint

coordinators• Haiwen&Partners:PRCcounselfortheinitial

purchasers• Mallesons Stephen Jaques: acted for an investor in

theIPO

Theworld’ssecondlargestIPOatastaggeringUS$22.1billion,theAgriculturalBankofChina(ABC)issued

aglobalofferingofHsharesconsistingofanIPOandinter-nationalofferingontheHongKongStockExchangeandaconcurrentofferingofAshareslistedontheShanghaiStockExchange.Theinternationalofferingalsoincludedapublic

offeringwithoutalistingtoinvestorsinJapan.HeadquarteredinBeijing,ABCisoneofChina’slargestcommercialbanksintermsoftotalassets,loansanddeposits.

Bank of Communications (BoCom) share issue

Practice Areas: Securities Deal Value: US$4.9 billion

Firms and their clients:• Baker & McKenzie: HongKongcounseltoBoCom• King & Wood:PRCcounseltotheissuer• FreshfieldsBruckhausDeringer:HongKongcounsel

totheunderwriters• GrandallLegalGroup:PRCcounseltotheunderwriters

TheBankofCommunications(BoCom)sold3.89bil-lionRMBdenominatedAsharesinShanghaiand3.46

billionHKdollardenominatedHsharesinHongKong.Itwasthebank’slargesteverequityfundraisingandoneofthemostsizeableintheregionduring2010.Asthesecondlargestrightsofferingoftheyear,thedealreceivedwide-spreadmediaattention.BoComwasthefirstofthecoun-try’s banks to receive the final go-ahead from ChineseregulatorstolistbothA-andH-sharesduringthesummer.Thedealwascompletedwithinaverytightdeadlineduetothe increasing volatility in the market and the fact thatAgriculturalBankofChina’smegaIPO(anotherASIAN-MENACOUNSELDealoftheYearwinner)wasplannedtobelaunchedsoonafterwards.

Financing of Venezuelan infrastructure and social projects

Practice Areas: Project Finance Deal Value: US$20 billion

Firms and their clients:• HoganLovells:advisedPetroleosdeVenezuela(PDVSA)

andBandes(MinistryofFinanceofVenezuela)• White&Case:advisedChinaDevelopment

Bank(CDB)


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Thismammothloans-for-oildealsawChina,theworld’ssecond-biggestoiluser,lendVenezuelaUS$20billion

tocreateaventure topumpcrude from theOrinocoBelt.Thedeal,notableforitssizeandcomplexity,involvedtwoloanfacilitiesworthacombinedUS$20billionfromChinaDevelopment Bank (CDB) earmarked by the Venezuelangovernmentforinfrastructureandsocialprojects.Underthetermsofthedeal,PDVSAreceived60percentwhileChinaNational Petroleum Company (CNPC) got the remainingsharesinthe25-yearexplorationagreement.Itwasthebig-gestfinancingevermadebyCDBandthelargestChinesefinancinginLatinAmerica.ThefirstUS$10billionfacilityis governed by English law,while the second falls underChinese law.ThefinancingrequiredcomplexnegotiationsaroundthreesystemsoflawandinvolvedoilsalescontractsfromPDVSAtoCNPC.Theloansaretoberepaidwiththeproceeds from the sale of 200,000 barrels of oil per dayfromPDVSAtoSINOIL.Industryobserverssaid thedealwentsomewaytodilutingChina’srelianceonMiddleEastoil,whichaccountsforabouthalfofitsoilimports.

Hopewell Highway issuing of debt securities

Practice Areas: Banking, Finance Deal Value: US$204 million

Firms and their clients:• MaplesandCalder:advisedHopewellHighway

InfrastructureLtd• Linklaters: advisedBankofChina,thearranger

Hopewell Highway Infrastructure Limited (HHI), atoll-road infrastructure company, issued corporate

debt securitiesworthRMB1.38billion (US$204million)duein2012toinstitutionalinvestors.ThislandmarkdealrepresentedthefirsteverofferingofRMBcorporatebondsinHongKong.Thebondofferingwaswellreceivedbythemarket with 13 applications from institutional investorsanda total subscriptionofRMB2.19billion -2.19 timeshigherthantheoriginalRMB1billiontargetissuesize.Inresponsetotheoverwhelmingdemand,theissuerincreasedthe issue size to RMB1.38 billion. The bonds carry aninterest rateof2.98percentperannum,with the interestbeingpayablesemi-annually.Theproceedsfromtheoffer-ingareintendedtodevelopandexpandHopewell’sbusi-nessandfulfillgeneralfinancingpurposes.

AuGuST 2010

Geely’s acquisition of Volvo

Practice Areas: M&ADeal Value: Approx. US$1.8 billion

Firms and their clients:• HoganLovells:advisedFordMotorCompany• Cederquist:advisedGeelyonSwedishlaw• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer: advised Geely on

internationallaw• Haiwen&Partners:advisedGeelyonPRClaw• Orrick,Herrington&Sutcliffe:advisedonIPlaw

Inoneofthemostnotabletransactionsoftheyear,FordMotorCompanysolditsSwedishvehiclemanufacturer


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Volvo Cars to the Chinese car maker, Zhejiang GeelyHoldingGroupCompany(Geely)forUS$1.8billion.Thiswas one of the biggest outbound investmentsmade by aChinese companyafterChina’sAntimonopolyLawcameintoeffect,bringingwithitnumerouscomplicatedcompeti-tion compliance issues. China’s biggest acquisition of aforeign car maker was seen by many as reflecting thenation’srapidriseintheautoworld.

PetroChina’s joint bid with Royal Dutch Shell for Arrow Energy

Practice Areas: M&A, EnergyDeal Value: Approx. US$3.1 billion

Firms and their clients:• Blake Dawson: leadadvisertoPetroChina• AllensArthurRobinson:advisertoShell• Gilbert+Tobin:advisertoArrowEnergy

ThishighlycomplexdealinvolvedestablishingajointventurearrangementbetweenPetroChinaandShellto

acquireAustralia’sArrowEnergy.CSCSG(Australia),the50:50jointventurecompanyformed,agreedtobuyallofthe shares inArrow, representing a total consideration ofapproximatelyUS$3.1billion. Itwas thebiggestChinesejoint venture acquisition in Australian corporate history,andthecountry’ssecondlargesttakeoverintheoilandgassector. It also marked a Chinese firm’s first foray intoAustralia’sburgeoningcoal-seamgassector.Arrowhasthehighestreservesofcoal-seamgasinthecountry.ThedealalsoinvolvedthedemergerofDartEnergy,anewcompanythat will holdArrow’s overseas gas assets and stakes inAustralian-listed companies. The deal is seen by manyobserversasamodelforfutureSino-Westernjointventureinvestments,increasinglythepreferredmodelinAustralia.MalcolmBrinded,RoyalDutchShell’sexecutivedirectorofupstream international, saidat the time:“Thisacquisi-tion is underpinnedby risingglobal demand for gas as acleansourceofenergy.”

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Singapore Sports Hub

Practice Areas: Project FinanceDeal Value: Approx. US$1.3 billion

Firms and their clients:• HoganLovells:advisedSingaporeSportsCouncil• Norton Rose: advised the Singapore Sports

Hub Consortium, consisting of DragagesSingaporePte,HSBCInfrastructureFund,UnitedPREMASandGlobalSpectrumPicoPte

• Ashurst:advisedthelenders• WongPartnership:actedasSingapore

counselforthesyndicateoflenders• Allen & Gledhill: advised the Singapore

MinistryofFinance• Linklaters:advisedtheSingaporeMinistryofFinance• MallesonsStephenJaques:actedforWorld

SportGroup• Onside Law:advisedastosaleofcommercial

sportsrights

• Rajah&Tann:providedSingaporerealestateadvice

The world’s largest sports and leisure infrastructurepublicprivatepartnership(PPP),theprojectinvolves

thedesign,construction, financing,operationandmainte-nanceof a fully integrated sports, entertainment and life-stylehub inKallang,Singapore.Facilitieswill include:a55,000capacitynationalstadiumwithretractableroof;a6,000 capacity indoor aquatic centre; awater sportscentre and; a 3,000 capacity multi-purpose arena.

The Singapore Sports Hub Consortium wasappointed preferred bidder by the

SingaporeSportsCouncil inJanuary2008. This highly complex dealencompassed several unique fea-tures including a refinancing com-

mitment which kicks in early in thetermafterconstructionandthesharingof

thirdpartyrevenues.Thedealwasdescribedby Infrastructure Journal as “arguably one of the mostremarkable success stories in theproject financearena inadecade.”


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oCToBeR 2010

Global Logistic Properties IPO

Practice Areas: Equity, Capital MarketsDeal Value: US$3 billion

Firms and their clients:• Allen & Gledhill: legaladviserstoGLP,Schwartz-Mei

GroupandRecoPlatinumastoSingaporelaw• CliffordChance:legaladviserstoGLPandtoReco

PlatinumastoUSFederalSecuritiesLawandNewYorklaw

• Allen & Overy: US counsel to Citigroup and JPMorganas jointglobal coordinators andunderwriters,and China International Capital Corporation, DBSBank,NomuraandUBSAGasjointunderwriters

• WongPartnership:advisedCitigroupandJPMorganasjointglobalcoordinatorsandjointissuermanagers,and China International Capital Corporation, DBSBank,NomuraandUBSAGasjointbookrunnersandunderwriters

• Walkers: Cayman Islands counsel to GLP, CLH,Greenfields Properties,GoldenTulips Investment andVioletInvestment

• Anderson Mo-ri&Tomotsune:Foreignduediligencecounsel

• City-YuwaPartners:Foreignduediligencecounsel• Commerce&FinanceLawOffices:Foreignduedili-

gencecounsel• King & Wood: Foreignduediligencecounsel

GlobalLogisticsProperties,oneofthelargestprovid-ersofmodernlogisticsfacilitiesinChinaandJapan,

and a unit of the Government of Singapore InvestmentCorporation, undertook an offering which raised SG$3.9billion(US$3billion).Thisreportedlymadeittheworld’sbiggest real estate IPO and the largest listing on theSingapore Stock Exchange since Singtel in 1993. Thetransaction, which received substantial media attention,involvedanumberofcomplexissuesacrossvariousjuris-dictions.TheIPOwas12 timesoversubscribed,andGLPdebuted as one of the 30 largest companies listed on theSGX-STbymarketcapitalisation.


ASIAN-MeNA CouNSel

Hongsa Mine-Mouth Power Project

Practice Areas: Project Finance, EnergyDeal Value: Approx. US$2.7 billion

Firms and their clients:• Chandler&Thong-ek:advisedlendersastoThailaw• DFDLMekong:representedthelenders(nine

Thaibanks)• Latham & Watkins:leadcounseltothelenders• LSHorizon:sponsors’LaosandThailawcounsel• Milbank,Tweed,Hadley&McCloy:sponsors’

leadcounsel

Considered to beThailand’s largest project financingsyndicationtodateandthefirstthermalpowerproject

for Laos PDR. NineThai financial institutions includingBangkokBankandTMBBankarefinancingtheconstruc-tionofthe1,878MWHongsaMine-MouthPowerPlantinthe Hongsa district of Xayaburi Province in Laos. Theprojectincludestheadjacentligniteminewhichwillsupplythefuelforthepowerplant.Thefinancingfortheproject

consists of a syndicated, multi-tranched, multi-currencyfacility.Themajorityof thepowergenerated at theplantwill supply Thailand under a 25-year power purchaseagreementsignedin2009betweentheElectricityGeneratingAuthorityofThailand(EGAT)andHongsaPower,ajointventurebetweenRatchaburiElectricityGeneratingHoldingPublic Company, Banpu Power and Laos Holding StateEnterprise.About100MWofthepowergeneratedwillbesoldtoElectriciteduLaosfordomesticconsumption,pro-vidingaboosttolocalsocio-economicdevelopment.Thisdeal was a complex, cross-border project that has beenunder development for more than a decade. The totalprojectcostisaboutUS$3.9billion.

Panasonic Corporation’s acquisition of Sanyo Electric Co.

Practice Areas: Equity, M&ADeal Value: Approx. US$4.6 billion

Firms and their clients:• MoriHamada&Matsumoto:advisedSanyoElectric

, founded in 1965,

and

2010


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• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett:internationalcounseltoSanyoElectric

• NagashimaOhno&Tsunematsu:counseltoPanasonic

• Sullivan&Cromwell:representedPanasonic• Baker & McKenzie:representedDaiwaSecurities

SMBCPrincipalInvestmentsCo,oneofSanyo’slarg-estinstitutionalinvestors

ThistransactionwaspartofthelargestM&AdealevermadebetweenJapaneseelectricalgoodsmanufactur-

ers and attracted mass media attention. Panasonic hadacquiredthemajorityvotingrightsinSanyothroughtenderin December 2009 and squeezed out theminority share-holders through a second tender offer in July 2010.Panasonic, Japan’s biggest consumer electronics maker,successfully acquired 81.02 percent of the total votingrights through the tender offer. The deal involved sometricky negotiations by legal counsel because of potentialconflictsofinterestamongminorshareholders.

Petrobras global offering


Firms and their clients:• SidleyAustin:advisedtheissuerastoHong

Konglaw• ClearyGottliebSteen&Hamilton:advised

PetrobrasastoUSlaw• Machado,Meyer,SendaczeOpiceAdvogados:

advisedPetrobrasastoBrazilianlaw• Walkers:advisedPetrobrasastooffshorelaw• MattosFilhoVeigaFilhoMarreyJr.eQuiroga

Advogados:advisedtheunderwritersastoBrazilianlaw

• Shearman&Sterling:advisedtheunderwritersastoUSlaw

octobersawthelargestglobalofferingincapitalmar-ketshistoryasPetroleoBrasileiroSA(Petrobras),a

MEMBER FIRM OF BAKER & MCKENZIE INTERNATIONAL

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Passionately GlobalWong & Partners is a Malaysian law firm dedicated to providing quality and solution-oriented legal services to its clients. Since its establishment in 1998, Wong & Partners has grown steadily and now consists of 11 partners and 35 associates. They are supported by a full team of paralegals and other support staff.

Wong & Partners prides itself on being a progressive law firm with international standards of quality and experience. In this regard, the Firm has a solid commitment to training its lawyers, and invests in training, professional development and quality management programs. As a member firm of Baker & McKenzie International, we can tap into the unique strengths and resources of colleagues from all over the world. Baker& McKenzie’s global coverage minimises cost and time otherwise spent briefing multiple law firms. We are adept at multijurisdictional multi-language transactions and can provide consistently responsive service with ease and fluency. We are viewed as trusted advisors by domestic and multinational corporations for their needs in Malaysia and throughout Asia. Our lawyers are widely recognised as among the best in their fields, helping clients apply industry-specific, innovative and practical solutions.

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“Asian-Counsel Firm of the Year” for:• AlternativeInvestmentFund(2009)• Antitrust/Competition(2010)• Corporate/M&A(2007,2009&2010)• CapitalMarkets(2009)• IntellectualProperty(2009)• Regulatory/Compliance(2007,2009&2010)• Securities/Finances(2008)• Taxation(2009)• TelecommunicationMedia&Technology(2009&2010)

“Asian-Counsel Most Responsive Domestic Firm of the Year 2010” - Asian-Counsel Magazine 2010

“Asian-Counsel Most Responsive Firm of the Year 2009” - Asian-Counsel Magazine 2009

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“Top 5 ALB Leading IP Firm 2008 & 2009” - Asian Legal Business


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stateownedoilcompanyinBrazil,offeredUS$70billionin common and preferred shares.More than four billionshareswereoffered in the formofCommonorPreferredAmericanDepositaryShares(ADSs)andwerelistedontheNewYorkStockExchange.TheIndustrial&CommercialBankofChinaInternational(ICBCI)actedasaplacementagent and joint bookrunner, making it the first ChineseinvestmentbanktoplayakeyroleinamajorshareissuanceoutsidemainlandChinaandHongKong.

Sri Lanka sovereign bond offering


Firms and their clients:• Davis Polk &Wardwell: advised Bank ofAmerica

Securities,HSBCandtheRoyalBankofScotland• NithyaPartners:advisedtheinitialpurchasersasto

SriLankanlaw• FJ&GdeSaram:advisedtheissuerastoSri

Lankanlaw• MilbankTweedHadley&McCloy:advisedthe

issuerastoUSlaw

ThisofferingbythegovernmentofSriLankaofits6.25percentbondsdue2020wasthecountry’slargestever

internationalbondandoneoftheregion’smostsignificantsovereigndealsof2010.TheUS$1billionglobalbondsaleattracted more than US$6.3 billion of orders within 14hours, indicatingveryhigh investorconfidence.JustoverhalfofthebondswereallocatedtoinvestorsintheUnitedStates, the remaining half being divided almost equallybetweenEuropeanandAsianinvestors.Byinvestortype,85percent of thebondswere allocated to fund and assetmanagersandthebalancetopensionfunds,insurancecom-panies and banks. It was Sri Lanka’s third internationalbond offering, following issues in 2007 and 2009. Theofferingwascompletedinatighttimeframeandinvolvedsignificant interplaybetween localand international legalstructures. It was underwritten by BofA Merrill Lynch,HSBCandTheRoyalBankofScotland.

NoVeMBeR 2010

AIA Group IPO


Firms and their clients:• Debevoise&Plimpton:advisedAmericanInternational

Group(AIG)andAIAGroup• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer: advised AIA on

HongKonglawissues• DavisPolk&Wardwell:advisedtheFederalReserve

BankofNewYork• HerbertSmith:legaladvisertoFederalReserveBank

ofNewYork• Linklaters:advisedtheunderwritersonHong

Konglaw• Sullivan&Cromwell:advisedtheunderwriterson

USlaw• NagashimaOhno&Tsunematsu:advisedasto

Japaneselaw

ThismammothIPOwas the largesteversingle listingontheHongKongStockExchange, thebiggestever

intheinsuranceindustryandamongthelargestinhistoryworldwide.ItsawAIAGroupissuemorethaneightbillionsharesinHongKongandinternationally,includingapublicofferingwithoutalistingtoinvestorsinJapan.Theshares


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weresoldbyAmericanInternationalGroup(AIG)andrep-resented thesaleof67.1percentof its stake inAIA.Theproceedsaretobeusedeventuallytorepayallorpartofacredit facility extended by the Federal Reserve Bank ofNewYork (FRBNY). Balancing numerous disparate andoften competing interests – local management, corporateheadquarters,theAmericangovernmentandglobalregula-tors– thedealdemandedculturalandpoliticalsensitivityfromcounsel.Thesheerscaleoftheofferingandscopeoftransactionalworkagainstabackdropofthefinancialcrisismadethisachallengingdealforallparties.

Coal India IPO


Firms and their clients:• DLAPiper:advisedtheGovernmentofIndia• Luthra&LuthraLawOffice: domestic counsel on

thetransaction

• Amarchand&Mangaldas:advisedthejointleadmanagers

• Ashurst:advisedthejointleadmanagers

WithlistingsontheNationalStockExchangeofIndiaandtheBombayStockExchange,thisInitialPublic

OfferingbyCIL–theworld’sbiggestcoalcompany–raisedanimpressiveUS$3.4billion,makingitthelargestIPOinthehistoryofIndiancapitalmarketsandthethirdlargestintheworldduring2010.ThesheerscaleofthisofferingandthestrategicimportanceofCILastheholderoftheplanet’slargestcoalreserves,conspiredtomakethisahighlycom-plexdeal,executedundertheclosescrutinyoftheinterna-tionalmediaandbusinesscommunity.Theneedtobalancethe requirements of many interested parties (includingemployees, unions, suppliers, customers and politicians)andtonavigateIndianregulations,internationallawandUSsecurities advice brought considerable challenges from atransaction management perspective. And despite CoalIndia’s size and maturity, the company had never beforeprepared a disclosure document prior to the IPO, and itsmanagement team had little experience of the challengesassociatedwith becoming a public company.Towards the


ASIAN-MeNA CouNSel

endofthedeal,theIPOhitan“11thhour”crisisinwhichtheSecuritiesandExchangeBoardofIndia(SEBI)requiredthecorrectionofanaccountingerrorinCIL’sfinancialstate-mentsafterthedealwasalreadybeingmarketed.Thecrisiswas quickly averted. The offeringwas part of the IndianGovernment’songoingdivestmentprogramme.

JAKS Resources Berhad’s Malaysia-China-Vietnam energy project

Practice Areas: Project financeDeal Value: US$2 billion

Firms and their clients:• Orrick,Herrington&Sutcliffe:advisedJAKS

ResourcesBerhad• DFDLMekong: represented theVietnamMinistry of

IndustryandTrade• Leadco:legalcounselastoVietnameselaw

one of the largest ever cross-border energy projectsbetweenChina,MalaysiaandVietnam,thisinvolves

the construction of and 25 year build-operate-transfer(BOT)concession for theHaiDuong2x600MWthermo-electricpowerplant.Withconstructionduetostartlaterthisyear,theUS$2billionplantshouldbeoperationalby2015.The deal involved some complex navigation of interna-tionalprojectstandardsincludingnegotiationofthepowerpurchaseagreement,theBOTcontractandthegovernmentguaranteeonbehalfofJAKS,theprojectdeveloper.

Liquidation of Lehman Brothers’ Asian entities

Practice Areas: Restructuring, Bankruptcy and InsolvencyDeal Value: Approx. US$2 billion

Firms and their clients:• MayerBrownJSM:advisedtheliquidatorsofLehman

BrothersCommercialCorporationAsia (LBCCA)andLehmanBrothersAsiaHoldings(LBAH)

• Linklaters:actedforthejointadministrators(PricewaterhouseCooperUK)

• HerbertSmith:actedforLehmanBrothersFinanceSA(PricewaterhouseCooperSwitzerland)

• NortonRose:actedforLehmanBrothersInc(Deloitte&Touche)

• Weil,Gotshal&Manges:actedforLehmanBrothersSpecialFinancingInc(Alvarez&Marsal)

By far the largest Asian insolvency in history, theLehman global bankruptcies continue to break new

groundandgive rise tosomeof themost importantcasesever heardbefore the courts of a number of jurisdictions.Followingtheglobalcollapseofthegroup,theliquidationof Lehman’s entities inAsia has entailed asset recoveriesrelating to pre-liquidation transactions involving assets inexcessofUS$10billionandthereconciliationofnumerousinter-companytradingaccounts(includingOTCderivativesand securities; both client andproprietary transactions). IthasalsoinvolvedtrustassetdisputesrunningtobillionsofUSdollarsinvalue.SomeextremelycomplexissuesaroserecentlyintheUKproceedingsinrespectoftheimplemen-tation within the Group of a local settlement policy forsecuritiestransactionsanditsimpactonthetrueownershipof securities traded by Lehman Brothers CommercialCorporation Asia (LBCCA) and Lehman Brothers AsiaHoldings(LBAH).Thecourtcasewassignificantnotleastduetotherestatementofsubstantialinter-companyclaimsresultingfromthedecisionandtheimpactsuchclaimswillhaveontheliquidationsoftheLehmanBrothersgroupenti-tiesworldwide.TheUKcourtproceedingstodeterminetheso-called “RASCALS” (Regulation andAdministration ofSafeCustodyandLocalSettlement) system related to theliquidatorsofLBCCAandLBAHseekingadeterminationinrespectofUS$2billioninassets.


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Shanghai Disney

Practice Areas: M&ADeal Value: Approx. US$3.5 billion

Firms and their clients:• Baker&McKenzie:counseltoDisney• Paul,Weiss,Rifkind,Wharton&Garrison:advised

thestate-ownedShanghaiShendiTourismandResortDevelopmentCompany

• ZhongLunLawFirm:PRCcounseltoShanghaiShendi

onNovember 5, TheWalt Disney Company signedjoint venture contracts with the PRC state-owned

Shanghai Shendi Tourism and Resort DevelopmentCompanytobuilditsfirstmainlandChinathemepark.OneofthelargestforeigninvestmentprojectsinChina,thejointventurewastenyearsinthemakingandwasahugelycom-plicated transaction.Beijing’sMinistryofCommercestillneedstosignofftheplan,butitisexpectedtobecompletedby2014.Disney,theworld’sbiggestthemeparkoperator,hashaditssightssetonShanghaiforsometimeduetoitsreputationastheChina’scommercialcentrewithapopula-tionofover20million.Althoughfewdetailshaveyetbeenmade public, Disney has said the Shanghai resort willincludea“MagicKingdom-stylethemeparkwithcharac-teristicstailoredtotheShanghairegion.”DisneyhasbeenexpandingitspresenceinmainlandChinaafteropeningitsHongKongthemeparkin2005.WithparksinParis,Tokyoand Hong Kong, Shanghai Disneyland will be Disney’sfourthoutsideoftheUSA.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group’s SEC registration and listing on the New York Stock Exchange

Practice Areas: Capital MarketsDeal Value: Approx. US$40.6 billion (market capitalisation)

Firms and their clients:• DavisPolk&Wardwell:advisedSMFG

• NagashimaOhno&Tsunematsu:advisedSMFGastoJapaneselaw

• PattersonBelknapWebb&Tyler:advisedCitibank,thedepositaryforSMFG’sAmericanDepositoryShares

oneofthelargestfinancialinstitutionsintheworldinterms of assets, SMFG made history with its

November2010listingontheNewYorkStockExchange.Itsmarket capitalisationof almostUS$41billionmade itthelargesteverlistingbyaJapaneseissuerandthelargestontheNYSEsince2002.ItwasalsothefirstJapaneselist-ing in theNewYork for four years.A colossal effort bySMFGanditsadvisers,thelistingprojectwastheculmina-tionoftheGroup’seffortstoincreaseitsglobalfootprint,coming on the heels of several business combinations,tender offers, equity an debt offerings during the year.These included its multi-billion dollar self-tender offersand joint equity offering closed in February (anotherASIAN-MENA COUNSEL Deal of the Year). The USSecurities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registrationandsimultaneous listingwascomplicatedby thefact thatno other Japanese bank had ever provided data based onInternationalFinancialReportingStandards(IFRS).

Top FirmS (by number of winning deals)Ranking Firm Tally

Equal 1st Baker & mcKenzie 8 (including its associated firms Baker & Mckenzie.Wong & Leow (2) and Hadiputranto, Hadinoto & Partners (1))

Linklaters 8

Equal 2nd Hogan Lovells 7 Sullivan & Cromwell 7

Equal 3rd Allen & overy 6 Latham & Watkins 6 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett 6


ASIAN-MeNA CouNSel

GMR Infrastructure’s sale of its 50 percent stake in InterGen to China Huaneng Group Firms involved: White & Case; Skadden, Arps, Slate, meagher & Flom; De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek

Employee discrimination litigation against Equal Opportunities Commission in Hong KongFirms involved: Baker & mcKenzie; Chui & Lau; TK Cheng & Co

Restructuring of First Mobile Group Firms involved: mayer Brown JSm; Hammonds (now Squire Sanders & Dempsey); Troutman Sanders

Asian Genco’s financing by a consortium of global investorsFirms involved: Wongpartnership; Davis polk & Wardwell; Allen & Gledhill; Lexygen; General Law partners; paul, Weiss; J.Sagar & Associates; Shearman & Sterling

Hanwha Chemical’s equity investment in SolarfunFirms involved: paul Hastings, Janofsky & Walker; DLA piper; Shearman & Sterling; o’melveny & myers; Shin & Kim; maples & Calder; Walkers

Mongolian Mining Corp (MMC) IPOFirms involved: mallesons Stephen Jaques; Skadden, Arps, Slate, meagher & Flom; milbank Tweed Hadley & mcCloy; Conyers Dill & pearman; Economic & Legal Consultancy

Ma San Group’s acquisition of Nuiphao MiningFirms involved: YKVN Lawyers; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; milbank Tweed Hadley & mcCloy

Honourable MentionsThe following deals from 2010 also deserve mention

Hai Tong’s acquisition of Taifook Securities Firms involved: DLA piper; Clifford Chance

Bharti Airtel fund raising for inter alia 3G licencesFirms involved: AZB & partners; Trilegal; milbank Tweed Hadley & mcCloy

China Merchants Bank’s global rights offeringFirms involved: Davis polk & Wardwell; Herbert Smith; Jun He Law offices; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Commerce & Finance Law offices

Morgan Stanley/Mitsubishi UFJ securities joint venture in Japan Firms involved: Hogan Lovells; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Sullivan & Cromwell; mori Hamada & matsumoto; Davis polk

Indorama Ventures’ IPO and exchange offer Firms involved: White & Case; Weerawong C&p; Linklaters

Nomura’s US$100 million Sukuk Issuance Firms involved: White & Case; mori Hamada & matsumoto; Clifford Chance; Zaid ibrahim & Co; mori Hamada & matsumoto

Newcrest Mining’s merger with Lihir Gold Firms involved: Blake Dawson; Allens Arthur robinson; Sullivan & Cromwell; Sidley Austin

Japan’s first rights issue, by Takara Leben Firms involved: mori Hamada & matsumoto; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett


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Thanachart Bank’s acquisition of shares in Siam City BankFirms involved: Baker & mcKenzie; Weerawong C&p

Headland Capital Partners, formerly HSBC Private Equity (Asia) (HPEA), management buyoutFirms involved: Debevoise & plimpton; Clifford Chance; maples and Calder; Walkers

Global IP cybercrime case involving Microsoft against the “Waledac” botnet in ChinaFirms involved: orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

Ground-breaking new structure for Prudential Mortgage JREIT debt financingFirms involved: orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

Korea Life Insurance’s IPO and listing on the Korea ExchangeFirms involved: Shin & Kim; Lee & Ko; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Davis polk & Wardwell Vietnam’s first coal-fired Build-operate-Transfer power project Firms involved: orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe

Chi Mei Optoelectronics merger with Innolux Display CorporationFirms involved: Baker & mcKenzie; First international Law & ip offices

ON Semiconductor’s acquisition of SANYO Semiconductor Firms involved: Tsar & Tsai Law Firm; morrison & Foerster; Nagashima ohno & Tsunematsu

Listing of National Mineral Development Corporation Firms involved: Gide Loyrette Nouel; Crawford Bailey & Company Advocates

Financing of majority shareholding acquisition in PT Berau CoalFirms involved: Allen & overy; Latham & Watkins; Holman Fenwick & Willan; Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung; Assegaf Hamzah & partners; Ery Yunasri & partners; Appleby; Sprenger & Associates; Zaid ibrahim & Co; Fenech & Fenech Advocates; Ganado & Associates; Camilleri preziosi; Allen Byrans; Davis polk & Wardwell

Ecuador’s Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric projectFirms involved: Hogan Lovells; Allen & overy; Corral & rosales; Lexim Abogados

China’s Ministry of Finance Renminbi bond issueFirms involved: Simmons & Simmons; Linklaters

S$1.62 billion refinancing of the Farrer Court siteFirms involved: Wongpartnership; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson; mayer Brown; Allen & Gledhill; morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell; madun Gujadhur Chambers

Mitsubishi UFJ’s US$11 billion global offeringFirms involved: mori Hamada & matsumoto; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Nagashima ohno & Tsunematsu; paul, Weiss, rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Korea Finance Corporation’s $10 billion medium term note programmeFirms involved: Kim & Chang; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

POSCO Power Corporation’s multi-currency financingFirms involved: Kim & Chang

… continued over …


ASIAN-MeNA CouNSel

Korea Housing Finance Corporation’s US$500 million covered bonds issuanceFirms involved: Kim & Chang; Ashurst; Shin & Kim; Sidley Austin

Samsung Engineering tax refund case involving employee stock optionsFirms involved: Yulchon

Honam Petrochemical’s acquisition of Titan Chemicals Firms involved: Yulchon; Zaid ibrahim & Co; roosdiono & partners

Lotte Shopping’s acquisition of GS Retail’s discount and department store businessFirms involved: Yulchon; Kim & Chang

Masterskill Education Group IPOFirms involved: Wong & partners; milbank Tweed Hadley & mcCloy

China Development Bank/Aircel Group financingFirms involved: White & Case; Baker & mcKenzie; J Sagar & Associates; Shearman & Sterling; Khaitan & Co

China Unicom bond offeringFirms involved: Davis polk & Wardwell; Herbert Smith; Fangda partners; Sullivan & Cromwell; Freshfields Bruckhaus; Commerce & Finance Law; Conyers Dill & pearman

Reliance Industries bond offeringFirms involved: Shearman & Sterling; Davis polk & Wardwell; AZB & partners; Wongpartnership; J Sagar & Associates; Vinson & Elkins

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Now the fastest-growing importer of oil on the planet, Asia’s ever increasing need for energy, be it old-fashioned natural resources such as coal, of which it has plenty, oil, of which it has little, or renewable ‘clean energy’, if not sated, has the potential to be a stumbling block to the region’s continued growth. The ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL Energy and Natural Resources Special Report will look at the issues - regulatory, geographic, environmental and other - as well as the incred-ible opportunities provided by the challenges in the sector. Leading legal practitioners from the sector will examine the industry from the perspectives of oil rich nations in the Mid-dle East and North Africa and large-scale Asian consumers like China and India.

In next month’s issue…

Note: Winning deals cited in this article are based on submissions made to AsiAn-MEnA CounsEL directly. We are not responsible for any omissions of firms active in these transactions who did not notify us of their roles.


asian-mena counsel · 2015. 7. 17. · illustration: 22 asian-mena counsel asian-mena counsel s...

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