Asia Team Advises on Award-Winning Deals

Latham & Watkins was cited for its leading role in a variety of landmark banking, restructuring and securities transactions in Asia at The Asian Lawyer’s third annual “Asia Legal Awards,” earning awards in four “Deal of the Year” categories — including the “Grand Prize Finance Deal of the Year.” Hong Kong partner Cathy Yeung, who serves as Local Chair of the Corporate Department in Hong Kong and Chair of the firm’s Greater China Practice, was also named “Securities Lawyer of the Year” for her work guiding milestone capital markets transactions.  

The winning deals included: 

• Grand Prize Finance Deal of the Year and Finance Deal of the Year: Insolvency and Restructuring – Studio City. Latham advised Melco Crown Entertainment Limited in connection with the debt restructuring for its subsidiary Studio City, a US$3.2 billion Hollywood-inspired integrated entertainment resort newly opened in Macau on 27 October 2015. According to The Asian Lawyer, the deal teams “worked quickly to make amendments to the senior term and revolving loan facilities agreement within the space of a few days, allowing the venue to open in time.” 
• Finance Deal of the Year: Banking – ChemChina-Pirelli acquisition financing. Latham advised the arranger and underwriter of China National Chemical Corp’s US$7.37 billion acquisition of Italian tire maker Pirelli. According to The Asian Lawyer, “the financing part of the deal was as complex as it was vast,” marking “one of the first take privates of an Italian listed company using leveraged financing and high yield.” 
• Securities Deal of the Year: Equity – PT HM Sampoerna Tbk US$1.4 billion rights issue. Latham advised the underwriters of Indonesian tobacco company Sampoerna’s US$1.4 billion rights offering on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Sampoerna is a subsidiary of Philip Morris. According to The Asian Lawyer, the deal was executed “despite challenging market conditions” and became “Southeast Asia’s largest ever secondary placement as well as the largest equity deal in Indonesia of the year.”

Additionally, The Asian Lawyer honored Yeung as “Securities Lawyer of the Year” in recognition of her stand-out capital markets work. She recently handled a number of significant Hong Kong IPOs, including Fuyao Glass Industry Group’s groundbreaking listing, and also “advised China Galaxy Securities on its US$3.1 billion H-share placement, which marked the largest follow-on offering in China,” according to The Asian Lawyer. The publication added that Yeung “was one of the first lawyers to work on H-share listings by Chinese companies since the market opened in 1993, and has left her mark on numerous historical IPOs.”