Sullivan & Cromwell established its Beijing office in 1999 and was among the very first top-tier Wall Street firms to have an office in mainland China. Today, the Beijing office provides a critical in-country platform to serve our Chinese and multinational clients on a wide range of cross-border M&A and private equity transactions as well as securities offerings and other complex financing matters. Lawyers in the Beijing office work in close coordination with colleagues in the Hong Kong and other offices. Effectively leveraging the global expertise and resources of the Firm, lawyers in the Beijing office often take the lead in managing multi-jurisdictional teams on transactions that have a China focus but also key assets, interested parties or regulatory aspects in the United States, Europe, the Middle East or elsewhere around the world.

Recent headline transactions handled by our Beijing-based team include the following:

M&A/Private Equity/Regulatory

• Represented China Investment Corporation in its $5 billion acquisition of a 9.9% stake in Morgan Stanley
• Represented China Investment Corporation in the formation of a private equity platform managed by J.C. Flowers for investing in financial services companies
• Represented China Investment Corporation in its successful application to the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System for exemptions under Section 4(c)(9) of the U.S. Bank Holding Company Act from the nonbanking restrictions of the BHCA, thereby allowing CIC to engage in certain nonbanking activities (including investments outside of the banking sector)
• Represented China Merchants Bank in obtaining approval from the Board of Governors of the U.S. Federal Reserve System to establish a branch in New York, thereby becoming the first Chinese bank to receive the Federal Reserve Board’s approval to establish a branch in the United States since the adoption of the Foreign Bank Supervision Enhancement Act in 1991
• Represented China Huaneng Group in its S$ 4.24 billion ($3.04 billion) acquisition of Tuas Power from Temasek Holdings
• Represented Barclays in connection with a $3.0 billion equity investment by China Development Bank, and a $2.0 billion equity investment by Temasek Holdings
• Represented Eastman Kodak in connection with its $2.55 billion sale of its health segment business, with key assets in China, to Onex Healthcare Holdings, Inc.
• Represented D. E. Shaw in a $200 million private placement of shares in Happy Genius Holdings 
• Represented C-BONS Holding in its €269 million ($397 million) sale of 85% of its hair-care business in China to Beiersdorf CEE Holding GmbH, an Austrian subsidiary of the German company Beiersdorf AG
• Represented Goldman Sachs, Allianz and American Express in connection with their $3.8 billion investment in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 
• Represented Goldman Sachs in connection with the establishment of Goldman Sachs Gao Hua, a Sino-foreign joint venture investment bank
• Represented Bank of China in a $3.1 billion equity investment in the Bank by a consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland, a $1.6 billion equity investment in the Bank by Temasek Holdings, a $500 million equity investment in the Bank by UBS and a $75 million equity investment in the Bank by the Asian Development Bank 
• Represented Dubai Ports in its $1.14 billion acquisition of CSX’s international port and marine terminal business and in its HK$ 1.58 billion acquisition through CSXWT Terminal 8 Limited of 39.1% of Asia Container Terminals Holdings
• Represented Thomson on the €540 million combination of the worldwide television businesses of Thomson and TCL to create the world’s largest producer of televisions 
• Represented Carlyle in its sale of its equity interest in Target Media to Focus Media, in its acquisition of an equity interest in Shanghai Anxin Flooring and in its acquisition of an equity interest in Credit Orienwise
• Represented CVC Capital Partners in its sale of Drakkar Holdings, the holding company of Adisseo, to ChemChina
• Represented Jilin Chemical Industrial Company (tri-listed on the New York, Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges) in its Rule 13e-3 going-private transaction in connection with a tender offer by PetroChina

Capital Markets

• Represented Alibaba.com in connection with its $1.69 billion IPO, which consisted of a Rule 144A offering in the United States, a Regulation S offering outside the United States and a public offering and listing in Hong Kong – the second largest IPO in the world by an internet company
• Represented Bank of China in its $11.2 billion IPO, which consisted of a Rule 144A offering in the United States, a Regulation S offering outside the United States and a public offering and listing in Hong Kong
• Represented China Digital TV Holding Co. in its $220.1 million SEC-registered IPO and NYSE listing
• Represented the underwriters in connection with China Nepstar Chain Drugstore’s $334 million SEC-registered IPO and NYSE listing
• Represented HSBC China Dragon Fund in its $476 million IPO
• Represented KongZhong Corporation in its $100 million SEC-registered IPO and Nasdaq listing
• Represented the underwriters in connection with Shanda Interactive Entertainment’s $175 million SEC-registered IPO and Nasdaq listing
• Represented the underwriters in connection with Sina.com’s $68 million SEC-registered IPO and Nasdaq listing
• Represented Sohu.com in its $60 million SEC-registered IPO and Nasdaq listing
• Represented the underwriters in connection with Mindray Medical International’s $310 million SEC-registered IPO and NYSE listing and a $277 million SEC-registered secondary equity offering
• Represented the underwriters in connection with Yingli Green Energy Holding’s $325 million SEC-registered IPO and NYSE listing, its SEC-registered offering of $172.5 million of convertible debt and a $200 million SEC-registered secondary equity offering
• Represented the underwriters in Solarfun Power Holdings’ $150 million SEC-registered IPO and Nasdaq listing
• Represented China Shenhua Energy in its $3.2 billion initial public offering, which consisted of a Rule 144A offering in the United States, a Regulation S offering outside the United States and a public offering and listing in Hong Kong
• Represented Ping An Insurance in its $2.11 billion initial public offering, which consisted of a Rule 144A offering in the United States, a Regulation S offering outside the United States and a public offering and listing in Hong Kong 
• Represented China Telecom in its $1.5 billion SEC-registered IPO and NYSE listing
• Represented China Unicom in its $5.7 billion SEC-registered initial public offering and NYSE listing 
• Represented China Mobile in its $4.2 billion SEC-registered initial public offering and NYSE listing
• Represented Tata Engineering and Locomotive in its Rule 144A/Regulation S rights offering

Project Development and Finance

• Represented China Huaneng Group in the S$4.24 billion ($3.04 billion) project-based financing arrangements for its acquisition of Tuas Power from Temasek Holdings, which included a non-recourse bridge loan from a group of six international banks and additional loans from Bank of China and China Eximbank
• Represented China Minmetals on its long-term copper supply and financing joint venture with Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco)

For more about S&C’s practice in Asia, please click here.