Linklaters

The ‘very committed’ team at Linklaters provides a ’high level work performance’ across a range of other high-profile equity work, often involving challenging regulatory hurdles. The firm’s strength on the regulatory side has in recent years been exemplified by its involvement in the establishment of several major capital markets infrastructure developments, including the setting up of ETF Connect and Swap Connect. The close ties with the Hong Kong capital markets regulator that the firm has established, including in-house regulatory secondment experiences, are also beneficial in establishing a close dialogue on complex transactions. As well as helping issuers secure large follow on/rights issuances on the HKEX, the firm has also been very active helping Chinese issuers access international investment through overseas GDR listings on Stock Connect. Lipton Li, who is ‘very hands on, professional and knowledgeable’, has been pivotal to the firm’s success for Chinese issuers on international matters and has handled GDR listings on the SIX Swiss Exchange via the China-Switzerland Stock Connect, as well as the very first GDR listing on the Shanghai-London Stock Connect segment of the Main market. Donnelly Chan co-heads the team alongside Li and is appreciated by clients for his ECM versatility which includes advice on SPAC listings, H-shares listings and spin-off listings, as well as an increasing volume of work for Chinese property developers raising capital in Hong Kong’s secondary equity capital markets. The arrival in August 2023 of Roger Cheng bolsters the firm’s public M&A capability, in particular, in light of his experience gleaned from his previous role as head of the takeovers team at the SFC.