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The capital markets group at Fangda Partners has worked on several major, headline deals this past year. Among these was its representation of Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Techonology Development, in its Hong Kong IPO. The offering, led by Jeffrey Ding, was one of the largest ever in the engineering machinery sector.

Fangda's capital markets partners also worked on a heavy-hitting US IPO in 2010. Jeffrey Ding and Luo Ke advised in the US IPO of China Ming Yand Wind Power Group. This was the largest IPO for a China-based company listing in the US that year, and the offering raised $350 million. The team also advised on headline Hong Kong IPOs, including the Hong Kong IPOs of Prada and Samsonite.

On the debt side, Ding and Jonathan Zhou led in advising China Unicom on the largest ever convertible bond issue in Asia outside of Japan which raised over $1.8 billion in proceeds.

Fangda Partners banking and finance team, led by Jeffrey Shen, enjoyed several major mandates this year. Among these was a Rmb$8 billion ($1.24 billion) syndicated loan for joint venture project companies established by HKR International and Swire properties for the purposes of developing hotel and office buildings in Nanjing West Road, Shanghai. Partners William Huang, Stanley Chen and Debbie Zhang acted on behalf of the lenders, arranged by Bank of China. The financing deal was the largest in Jing'an District, Shanghai last year, and was among the largest in Shanghai in 2010.

Jeffrey Shen, Shanley Chen and Xie Zhang also acted for a syndicate of lenders arranged by Citibank in the restructuring of a Rmb3 billion ($464 million) syndicated loan granted to CIT Finance and Leasing as a result of a bankruptcy filing by CIT. The restructuring was part of the fifth largest bankruptcy case in US history.

Shen and Chen also represented BM Holding Groupin a Rmb2.8 billion ($443 million) syndicated loan granted to Shanghai Yaoda Real Estate Development for the construction of the International Continental Centre-the tallest building in Zhabai district, Shanghai.

Clients praise Fangda Partners for knowing the Chinese market and being able to meet clients' needs. "They really understand the space, and know what the client wants," says one client. Fangda Partners has advised on a number of large M&A deals this year. One of the most important was advising Home Inns & Hotels Management in its acquisition of 100% interest in equity of Motel 168 International Holdings. The team, led by Jonathan Zhou and George Xu, worked with international co-counsel Simpson Thacher & Bartlett on the $470 million transaction.

Zhou, Norman Zhong and Jeffrey Ding also represented Goldman Sachs Group in its acquisition of a 12% in Taiking Life Insurance. The partial acquisition, which completed in April 2011, was valued at $940 million and represented last year's largest investment into a Chinese insurance company.

Jonathan Zhou and George Xu also led the team that advised Hewlett Packard in its $2.7 billion acquisition of 3Com. As both companies had substantial operating and manufacturing assets in China, the cross-border deal had substantial China elements.

Fangda Partners has done several market leading transactions for major clients in the private equity arena, including advising TPG, KKR, GIC and Great Eastern Life Assurance in purchasing a 34.3% stake in China International Capital Corporation (CICC) from Morgan Stanley. CICC is China's leading investment bank and the transaction carried a value of over $1 billion. This represented the first time a consortium of private equity investors invested into a Chinese securities company under the new CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission) rules, and was one of the largest private equity investments in China in 2010.

One key aspect of Fangda Partners' private equity practice is its prominent fund formation team, which leads the market in Rmb private equity fund formation in China. The team has represented many high-profile international sponsors in China, including nearly all of the major foreign sponsors. To this effect, Fangda has advised on the formation of Jinpu Finance Fund, with its Rmb20 million ($3.1 million) in total committed capital. They also advised Blackstone on the formation of its first Rmb fund, which had a target total of Rmb5 billion in committed capital. The Blackstone fund was one of the first large-scale Rmb private equity funds to be formed by an international sponsor, and the fund's first closing took place in early 2011.

Fangda's team has also advised Carlyle and IDG on their funds with Rmb5 billion and Rmb3.2 billion in committed capital, respectively.

Clients had special praise for Shanghai-based partner Kevin Gong: "He really understands the space," one says, "he knows what the client wants and his communication with us is always very good."