Slaughter and May's capital markets practice may not be the largest in the market, but peers and clients have genuine respect for high-quality lead practitioners Neil and Benita Yu. "Benita Yu is simply a top practitioner in Hong Kong and China," says a rival partner, "all clients and peers in the market seem to respect her, and her reputation for doing quality work is well-deserved....
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Slaughter and May's capital markets practice may not be the largest in the market, but peers and clients have genuine respect for high-quality lead practitioners Neil and Benita Yu. "Benita Yu is simply a top practitioner in Hong Kong and China," says a rival partner, "all clients and peers in the market seem to respect her, and her reputation for doing quality work is well-deserved." Slaughter's model of hiring well-rounded practitioners who specialise across practice areas continues to develop partners who can truly advise companies through their growth-cycle.
Benita Yu and partner Laurence Rudge led the team last year that advised Prada on the Hong Kong law aspects of its headline $2.14 billion listing and IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The deal represents the first time an Italian company has listed in Hong Kong, and the IPO was underwritten by Banca IMI, CLSA, Goldman Sachs, and UniCredit.
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Slaughter and May's philosophy of having a small group of multi-disciplinary practitioners continues to be a successful strategy, as the team seeks to represent clients on select high-value, complex transactions. The partners are extremely well regarded in the market: "We want them whenever we can get them," says one client, "and I think they end up having to turn away a lot of business because they just can't meet the demand for their services....
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Slaughter and May's philosophy of having a small group of multi-disciplinary practitioners continues to be a successful strategy, as the team seeks to represent clients on select high-value, complex transactions. The partners are extremely well regarded in the market: "We want them whenever we can get them," says one client, "and I think they end up having to turn away a lot of business because they just can't meet the demand for their services." Client satisfaction is also reflected in Slaughter and May's long-term, ongoing relationships with leading Hong Kong corporations like Standard Chartered, Swire and MTR.
Deal highlights last year included partner Neil Hyman's advice to Diageo on its proposed acquisition of a controlling interest in its existing Chinese joint venture, Sichuan Chengdu Quangxing Group. The acquisition would trigger a mandatory $1.5 billion tender offer for Chinese white spirits company Sichuan Shui Jing Fang, which is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. If successful, the deal would represent the first winning foreign takeover of a mainland China-listed company by a non-financial institution. Because of the state's previous blocking of the Coca-Cola takeover of Hiuyuan Juice, the transaction is seen as a test case in understanding the Chinese government's willingness to allow non-Chinese persons to control significant Chinese brands.
In 2010, partners Padraig Cronin and Laurence Rudge also advised Prudential on its proposed combination with AIA Group. The deal involved $25 billion in cash and a total of $10.5 billion in shares and other securities, to be payable to the AIG. Though the deal did not go through after Prudential gained a dual primary-listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May 2010, the combined group would have been the leading life insurer in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, in addition to having a leading foreign life insurance business in China and India, supported by a strong presence in the US and the UK.
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