About

David Chu, managing director and head of Credit Suisse’s Investment Banking and Capital Markets (IBCM) legal team in Asia Pacific, has been the head of the team since 2011 and has extensive experience in related transactions. Also the general counsel for Hong Kong, Chu’s team comprises of six lawyers, four of whom are based in Hong Kong and two based in Singapore. The legal team work collaboratively sharing responsibility and experience across disciplines in order to cover all areas of its remit for strategic and legacy reasons, an operational model that has been proven to be highly productive. Regarding this model, Chu says: ‘By having the team structured in this way, the ability of our lawyers to manage and advise on various types of transactions [and] products across multiple jurisdictions provides operational flexibility, enables us to provide seamless services to our internal clients [and] ensures consistency of legal positions that we adopt’. He also states it ‘encourages understanding and identification of issues and promotes not only the versatility of, but also the career development of our team members as experienced and value-adding lawyers’. Thus, the entire team is experienced in handling IBCM legal matters including products and transactions such as IPOs, equity placements, debt and convertible debt offerings, liability management exercises where Credit Suisse acts as an underwriter or deal manager, private placements where Credit Suisse acts as a placement agent, and M&A (both public and private) and other advisory mandates. The team also advises on other activities such as its internal initiatives and working with colleagues in the compliance department as well as collaborating with Credit Suisse legal teams around the world. The Hong Kong legal team is widely recognised through industry awards as one of the preeminent teams of M&A advisors in Asia, in particular with its cross border deals involving mainland China. Chu says of the team: ‘[It] strives to be partners and strategic and trusted advisors of Credit Suisse’s Asia Pacific IBCM business and the Credit Suisse Group and provide forward-looking and solution-oriented advice while acting as an independent challenge and control function’. Among a long list of examples, the top M&A deals the team has worked on include the sale by OCBC, Great Eastern Holdings and the Lee Family of their stake in SGX-listed United Engineers and WBL for US$2.4bn, and the acquisition of SharkNinja by a Chinese consortium led by CDH for US$1.6bn. Other major transactions include the Hong Kong IPO of Razer Inc for US$529m and the US$4.7bn Hong Kong IPO by Xiaomi Corporation, the largest tech IPO in Hong Kong and the world’s largest tech IPO since the Alibaba IPO in 2014 as of June 2018.