Allen & Gledhill has advised Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engg) on its updated US$5 billion global medium term note program, and its wholly-owned subsidiary ST Engineering Urban Solutions USA (STE URS USA) on the issue of US$700 million 3.375 percent notes due 2027 and US$300 million 3.75 percent notes due 2032. ST Engg is the guarantor of the updated program, under which notes may be issued by ST Engineering RHQ, ST Engineering Treasury and STE URS USA. Partners Tan Tze Gay, Bernie Lee and Sunit Chhabra led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Allen & Gledhill has also acted as transaction counsel to Sembcorp Industries on the S$1.2 billion (US$865.6m) syndicated sustainability-linked revolving credit facility granted to its wholly-owned subsidiary Sembcorp Financial Services. This is the first and largest Singapore Overnight Rate Average-based syndicated sustainability-linked loan facility for an energy company in Southeast Asia. Partner Aloysius Ng led the firm’s team in the transaction.
AZB & Partners is advising Bodhi Tree, a platform between James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, via BTS Investment 2, on its Rs151 billion (US$2b) acquisition of equity stake in Viacom18 Media. Founding partner Zia Mody and partners Ashwath Rau and Roxanne Anderson are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on April 27, 2022 and is yet to be completed.
AZB & Partners has also advised Hero Enterprise Venture Partners on its Rs2 billion (US$25.8m) acquisition of equity stake in Bluestone Jewellery and Lifestyle. Partners Anil Kasturi, Ashish Pareek and Hemangini Dadwal led the firm’s team in the transaction, the primary part of which was completed on May 12, 2022.
Clifford Chance has advised on global antitrust filings for the strategic restructuring of China XD Group (Xidian) and related subsidiaries of State Grid Corporation (State Grid). Under the restructuring plan, related subsidiaries of State Grid will be merged with Xidian into a new company, China Electrical Equipment Group, which will produce equipment related to electric transmission and distribution. Xidian and State Grid are ranked among the largest electric companies in China. Under the restructuring plan, both companies will combine their assets valued at close to Rmb120 billion (US$17.8b), and folded into China Electrical Equipment Group, which has four listed companies. China Electrical Equipment Group operates across more than 60 countries and regions around the world, and is committed to becoming a leading manufacturer of power transmission and distribution of equipment. Beijing partner and Greater China antitrust practice head Yong Bai, supported by Dusseldorf partner Torsten Syrbe, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has advised Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan India and IIFL Securities, as the book-running lead managers, on the Rs15.81 billion (US$204m) IPO of Rainbow Children’s Medicare, a leading multi-specialty pediatric and obstetrics and genecology hospital chain in India, operating 14 hospitals and three clinics in six cities. It is the first such company to list in India, and the IPO was subscribed over 12 times. Capital markets head Yash Ashar and partner Abhinav Kumar led the firm’s team in the transaction, while Sidley Austin acted as international counsel. AZB & Partners, led by partner Varoon Chandra and Lionel D’Almeida, advised Rainbow Children’s Medicare on the IPO, the equity shares of which were listed on May 10, 2022.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has also advised Parry Chemicals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coromandel International, on its acquisition of 45 percent equity stake of Baobab Mining and Chemicals Corporation (BMCC) from Baobab Fertilizer Africa (BFA), an existing shareholder of BMCC, for Rs2.25 billion (US$29m). The Government of Senegal will also hold a 10 percent equity stake in BMCC. The acquisition is subject to the completion of the agreed conditions precedent, including receipt of approval from the Government of Senegal. As a part of the transaction, Parry Chemicals has entered into a share sale agreement with BFA; and a shareholder’s agreement with BMCC, BFA and the other shareholders of BMCC. Parry Chemicals has also agreed to extend a shareholder loan to BMCC for capital projects and expansion. Partner Gautam Gandotra led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on May 6, 2022 and is expected to close in the second quarter of FY 2022-23. Popular Legal acted as international counsel to BFA & BMCC.
Harneys has acted as Cayman Islands counsel to New York-listed KE Holdings, which operates “Beike” as a leading integrated online and offline brokerage platform for mainland China housing transactions and services, on the dual primary listing of its class A ordinary shares via introduction in Hong Kong. The shares commenced trading on May 11, 2022. The company’s ADSs, each representing three class A ordinary shares, will continue to be primarily listed and traded in New York. Shanghai corporate partner Calamus Huang, supported by Shanghai managing partner Vicky Lord, led the firm’s team in the transaction. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Beike as to Hong Kong law, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as to US law, and Han Kun Law Offices as to Chinese law. Davis Polk & Wardwell and Jingtian & Gongcheng acted as Hong Kong and Chinese counsel, respectively, to Goldman Sachs Asia and China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities as the joint sponsors.
IndusLaw has advised Brainbees, Softbank and Valiant on the secondary sale of shares of Brainbees (FirstCry). Partners Winnie Shekhar, Aakash Dasgupta and Unnati Agrawal led the firm’s team in the transaction.
IndusLaw has also advised Paragon Partners, as the lead investor, on its investment into Pep Technologies (mCaffeine). Other investors who participated in this round include Singularity, RPSG and Amicus. Senior partner Kartik Ganapathy and partner Faraz Khan led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was valued at approximately US$30 million. Vertices Partners advised Pep Technologies, while Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas advised the existing investors RPSG and Amicus. IC Universal Legal advised Singularity.
JSA has advised Good Capital on its seed investment in Skillbee India, which raised US$3.2 million in the seed funding round led by Good Capital. Skillbee is a startup which helps migrant workers get jobs in the Middle East. Launched in the UAE amid Covid-19 to help Indian and other migrant workers get back on their feet, Skillbee has over 500,000 workers as registered users, while more than 20,000 companies have signed up to the app to meet their human resource requirements. Partner Probir Roy Chowdhury led the firm’s team in the transaction.
JSA has also advised Creation Investments India III on its investment via Series C fund raise round in Vivriti Capital. Vivriti Capital has raised US$55 million in this round, which saw participation from Creation and Lightrock India. Vivriti Capital intends to utilise these funds for business expansion, and developing new technology for customer acquisitions, product delivery and portfolio management. A portion of these funds will also be utilised by its subsidiary, Vivriti Asset Management, to build a global leading asset management platform focused on performing credits. Partner Lalit Kumar led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Khaitan & Co is advising Borosil Renewables, a solar glass manufacturing company in India, on its acquisition of GMB Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg and Interfloat. Borosil, along with its subsidiaries, will be acquiring 100 percent stake in these companies through purchase of entire shareholding of HSTG Glasholding and Blue Minds IF Beteiligungs, the shareholders of both companies. The parties have executed a binding share purchase agreement, and the closing of the transaction shall be subject to completion of conditions precedent. The deal involves payment of upfront cash consideration of US$56.6 million, while the balance is payable in the form of share swap. Senior partner Haigreve Khaitan and partner Kapish Mandhyan, supported by partner Arindam Ghosh, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was announced on April 25, 2022 and is yet to be completed. Timo Betjemann from DLA Piper UK and Markus Stelzl from Nägele Attorneys at Law are advising Borosil on German and Liechtenstein law, respectively. HSTG Glasholding and Blue Minds IF Beteiligungs are represented by Schoenherr Attorneys and Ashurst.
Khaitan & Co is also advising Optimus Drugs, Optimus Pharma and Optimus Life Science, promoter Mr Srinivasareddy Desireddy, seller Unichem Laboratories and other sellers on Sekhmet Pharmaventures’ acquisition of majority stake in the three Optimus companies from the promoter, Unichem Laboratories and other sellers. Sekhmet Pharmaventures is a consortium among PAG, CX Partners and Samara Capital. Partners Bhavik Narsana and Vidur Sinha, supported by partners Anisha Chand, Nishad Nadkarni and Deepak Kumar, are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was announced on May 11, 2022 and is yet to be completed. AZB & Partners, led by partners Ashwath Rau, Kashish Bhatia and Atreya Bhattacharya, is advising Sekhmet Pharmaventures on its acquisition of controlling stake in Optimus Drugs.
K&L Gates has advised Silicon Motion Technology, an Asia-based global leader in developing NAND flash controllers for solid state storage devices, on entering into a US$3.8 billion cross-border take-private acquisition with MaxLinear, a California-based leading provider of radio frequency, analog, digital and mixed-signal integrated circuits. Under the agreement, MaxLinear will acquire Silicon Motion in a cash and stock transaction that values the combined company at US$8 billion in enterprise value. In the merger, each American Depositary Share of Silicon Motion will receive US$93.54 in cash and 0.388 shares of MaxLinear common stock, for total per ADS consideration of US$114.34 (based on MaxLinear’s May 4, 2022 closing price). The combination is projected to roughly double MaxLinear’s total addressable market opportunity, and to create a top-ten fabless semiconductor company. Corporate and capital markets partners James Chen and Robert Matlin, supported by partners Billy Chen, Christopher Cunningham, Remsen Kinne, Rikki Sapolich-Krol, Francesco Carloni, Amigo Xie, Steven Hill and Adam Tejeda, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
O’Melveny has represented Belite Bio on its IPO on the Nasdaq. The total gross proceeds of the offering were US$36 million, before the underwriter chooses to exercise its over-allotment option to issue up to an additional 900,000 ADSs. Belite made its first public filing with the SEC on April 5, 2022, priced on April 28, 2022 and listed on Nasdaq on April 29, 2022. The closing took place on May 3, 2022. The firm previously represented the company on its pre-IPO financings. Headquartered in San Diego, Belite is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical drug development company focused on novel therapeutics targeting currently untreatable eye diseases involving retinal degeneration and certain metabolic diseases. The Benchmark Company is acting as the lead underwriter of this offering. Corporate partners Portia Ku and Vincent Lin, supported by partners Rob Plesnarski, Kurt Berney and Robert Fisher, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Slaughter and May has advised MTR Corporation on the Shatin to Central Link (SCL), the largest infrastructure investment in Hong Kong of over US$10 billion. The highly publicized project connects the Northeastern New Territories, central Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, creating a rail line that spans 46km through 16 stations. The SCL is part of a mega project that comprises two parts: the introduction of the Tuen Ma Line, connecting the Ma On Shan Line to the West Rail Line via East Kowloon, and the extension of the East Rail Line from Admiralty to Hung Hom, making it the fourth harbor-crossing railway line in Hong Kong. The completed mega project will relieve traffic congestion, and offer commuters a direct route between the Northeastern New Territories and the commercial and financial hubs of Hong Kong Island.
WongPartnership is acting for DBS Bank, as sole dealer, on the issuance of Keppel DC REIT’s €75 million (US$79m) fixed-rate notes due 2028 at 2.61 percent per annum. The Series 003 notes will be issued under the S$2 billion (US$1.44b) multicurrency debt issuance programme established by Keppel DC REIT MTN. Partner Trevor Chuan led the firm’s team in the transaction.
WongPartnership has also acted for Indonesian venture capital firm East Ventures on its fundraising for two new funds focused on South East Asian startups, totaling US$550 million. The firm acted as transaction counsel in East Ventures’ ninth fund for early-stage deals, and as Singapore counsel for its second growth-stage fund. Partner Felicia Ng led the firm’s team in the transaction.
