Asialaw Profiles
The Guide to the legal markets of the Asia-Pacific

Fangda Partners carves out its top standing in banking and finance work because of its representation of domestic companies in major Hong Kong and US IPOs, as well as A-share listings.

Last year, Fangda advised Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Development in its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Jeffrey Ding led Fandga’s team on the offering, which became one of the largest engineering machinery sector IPOs in history. Fandga also represented Prada and Samsonite on their headline Hong Kong listings.

On US listings, Fangda represented China Ming Y & Wind Power Group in its US$350 million US IPO. The offering became the largest ever listing of a Chinese company on a US exchange, despite general market conditions being unfavourable to Chinese companies listed in the US.

In the debt capital markets space, Fangda represented China Unicom on its US$1.8 billion convertible bond issue, which became the largest ever in Asia outside of Japan. Founding partner Jonathan Zhou is well known in China, as is Yang Gao, Jeffery Shen and Jeffrey Ding.

Fangda is known in the market for partnering with top international law firms to help clients on major cross border M&A transactions. When clients are asked for feedback on the firm they compliment the firm’s knowledge of the PRC market and ability to support clients in meeting their business goals. “The firm really understands the space,” says one client, “and it knows what the client wants.”

Fangda Partners earned many significant M&A mandates across a variety of industry sectors this year, including its representation of Home Inns & Hotels Management in its acquisition of 100% of the equity interest in Motel 168 International Holdings. Partners Jonathan Zhou and George Xu led the team, which worked with international co-counsel Simpson Thacher & Bartlett on the US$470 million transaction.

Fangda’s M&A team also represented Goldman Sachs on its acquisition of a 12% share of Taiking Life Insurance. The partial acquisition, which completed in April 2011, was valued at US$940 million and represented the year’s largest investment in a Chinese insurance company. Fangda also represented Hewlett Packard in connection with its acquisition of 3Com, valued at US$2.7 billion.

Partners Victor Yu, Norman Zhong, Andrew Zhang, Yang Gao and Kenneth Lu are all leading M&A practitioners.

Fandga Partners is known for its work in the commercial real estate space, particularly when it comes to work in China’s largest cities.

The firm recently represented Mori Group in its sale of floors in the tallest office building in China, the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC). The deal, which was ongoing at the time of going to press, is valued at Rmb267 million (US$41.7 million). The sale to Tomson involved complex arrangements, so that Mori Group could retain its exclusive management rights for the building, and much synchronisation with bank financiers.

Fangda partner Ji Nuo was recently elected as director of the Real Estate Business Research Comission of the Shanghai Bar Association. Ji Nuo is particularly active in the Shanghai real estate sector, and often participates in legislation programmes and seminars in connection with housing policy. He and Yingying Wang are jointly responsible for Fangda’s construction and real estate group.

Fangda’s dispute resolution practice has a strong showing in both litigation and arbitration related matters. The firm’s list of clients ranges from domestic companies to multinational corporations.

In one matter, Fangda advised a civil aviation leasing company on a civil lawsuit resulting from several disagreements over leasing arrangements between international aircraft companies and a private Chinese airline. The case resulted in a settlement that was favourable to the client.

Fangda also represented a high profile Chinese businessman in initiating litigation in a PRC court over corporate control between the founder of a local business and an international investor.

Fangda’s IP team is bolstered by the firm’s strength in litigation, and is often seen representing major multinationals on IP cases in front of prominent courts. The firm’s team is well known in China, with two partners recently publishing the book ‘Intellectual Property Rights in China’.

In one prominent case, Fangda’s IP team obtained a successful landmark ruling for Nokia when the Beijing High People’s Court stated that time zones were not relevant in determining if a publication was published before patent priority or application dates. Fangda effectively enabled Nokia to retain its patent by reversing a previous decision of the Patent Re-examination Board Office (PRB) that had invalidated the patent.

Fangda Partners’ leading M&A, private equity and capital markets practices allow the firm to work on some major deals and transactions in the IT, Telco & Media fields.

This year, the firm’s private equity team advised Russian internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies in connection with its US$500 million investment in Chinese e-commerce company 360buy.com.

Fangda’s capital markets team also advised underwriters Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Macquarie on Phoenix New Media’s IPO on the NYSE. The leading news and premium content operator, which is responsible for iFeng.com, earned over US$140 million in its May 2011 listing.

Fangda Partners’ Labour & Employment practice has undergone some major changes this year in order to allow the firm to be even more competitive in this area. The group has nearly doubled in size to 13 lawyers, and the team now includes experienced practitioners from both corporate and dispute resolution backgrounds.

This past year, Fangda has been heavily involved in advising a number of multinational companies in the pharmaceutical area on compliance investigations, disciplinary actions and legal strategies for compliance incidents. Fangda has been helping these clients to minimise their legal risk. Daniel Huang and James Hu lead Fangda’s labour and employment practice.