Maples Advises Alibaba on Largest Hong Kong IPO
Maples and Calder, the Maples Group’s law firm, was pleased to advise Alibaba Group Holding Limited (“Alibaba”) on its recent global offering of 500,000,000 shares and its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The offering is the largest in Hong Kong since 2010. The Group’s Fund Services business acted as the Cayman Islands Share Registrar.
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Alibaba is a Chinese multinational conglomerate specialising in e-commerce, retail, internet, cloud computing, digital media and entertainment, and technology.
A team based in the Group’s law firm in Hong Kong acted as Cayman Islands legal counsel to Alibaba and was led by Corporate partners, Greg Knowles and Derrick Kan, and assisted by legal manager, Mindy Ho. Eastern Fong, Regional Head of the Group’s fund services business in Asia, assisted by vice president Christy Poon and her team, provided Share Registrar support. The Maples Group has been working with Alibaba for over a decade, including the very notable and innovative US IPO in 2014, the largest IPO in global financial history.
Alibaba was advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as to Hong Kong and US laws, and by Fangda Partners as to PRC laws. The joint sponsors, China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited and Credit Suisse, and the underwriters were advised by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as to Hong Kong and US laws, and by King & Wood Mallesons as to PRC laws.
Greg Knowles, head of the Corporate team at the Group’s law firm in Asia, commented, “We are delighted to have advised our longstanding client, Alibaba, on this milestone transaction. It is always very rewarding to support our clients through various stages of development.”