Han Kun Law Offices, Slaughter and May, Fangda Partners, Kirkland & Ellis, and Jingtian & Gongcheng have advised on the first acquisition of a Hong Kong-listed company by a firm listed on the Star Market of the SSE.
The Shanghai-listed Asiainfo Security Technologies has bought 20.32% of Hong Kong-listed AsiaInfo Technologies from Skipper Investment for more than HKD1.39 billion (USD178 million) in cash. This means the major investor no longer has a stake in AsiaInfo Technologies.
This represents a “David and Goliath” acquisition because Asiainfo Security is the smaller entity compared to the target company. At the end of 2023, Asiainfo Security reported RMB1.6 billion (USD221 million) in revenue compared to the RMB7.94 billion that AsiaInfo Technologies posted.
Han Kun provided PRC legal advice to the buyer, while leading partner Benita Yu at Slaughter and May advised on international law.
Fangda partner Bao Chen served as PRC counsel for Skipper Investment and AsiaInfo Technologies, with support from antitrust partner Caroline Huang.
Kirkland & Ellis partners Joey Chau and Nelson Ni led the team advising CITIC Capital, the de facto controller of Skipper Investment, on international law.
An SSE filing shows that the acquiring entity is an offshore special purpose vehicle formed by Asiainfo Security Technologies through two wholly-owned subsidiaries in a joint venture with a government-controlled company in Tianjin and a loan from China Bohai Bank.
Jingtian & Gongcheng acted as legal counsel to China Bohai Bank.
