Team size: Five

Key team members: Rosy Zhang (head of Asia legal and compliance) and Winston Yu (senior vice president)

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

The legal team acted as Jefferies’ principal legal counsel in the IPO of PT Amman Mineral International (offering size: USD$715m) on the Indonesian Stock Exchange, being Indonesia’s largest IPO in 2023, for which Jefferies acted as Joint Global Coordinator and International Selling Agent.

Our team also advised on the IPO of Plus Group Holdings and ADICON Holdings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, for which Jefferies acted as joint sponsor and global coordinator.

We also had a crucial role in the IPO of TMS Co. and Noile-Immune Biotech on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, for which Jefferies acted as joint global coordinator.

Finally, the legal team acted as Jefferies’ principal legal counsel in several block trade and share-placing transactions involving companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, including Yeahka Limited, China Youzan Limited and Alphamab Oncology, among others.

Can you sum up the team culture in one sentence?

As a closely knitted team, we have a collaborative team culture and fully believe in solving problems together.

Although Rosy is Asia’s legal and compliance head, she would often seek the input of others on difficult issues, especially on investment banking-related matters. By leveraging each other’s expertise, we can come up with practical solutions for all business units of Jefferies.

In light of the business size of Jefferies in Asia, we have a relatively small legal team. Over the last five years, we have worked on many urgent transactions and difficult situations together; as a result, we have developed deep trust and mutual respect among the team members.

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives?

Our team also advises all business divisions on compliance-related matters. As a financial institution regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (the ‘SFC’), Jefferies strongly emphasises compliance with the SFC rules and regulations. An important aspect of our team’s responsibility is to provide continuous support and guidance on compliance for all business divisions.

We also provide strategic and procedural advice on internal projects. For example, in November 2022, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. completed its strategic merger with Jefferies Group LLC after a lengthy internal restructuring process. We actively participated in the legal and regulatory workstream for all Jefferies’ Asia entities and have provided advice on the restructuring steps and regulatory requirements of the various Asian jurisdictions.