Baker & McKenzie maintained its impressive track record for advising People’s Republic of China clients on overseas listings, and firmed up its credentials with Chinese industrial giant CNOOC to boot, when it took the lead role on fertiliser manufacturer China Blue Chemical’s $341m (£180.62m) IPO last month.
CNOOC subsidiary China Blue is the country’s second-largest manufacturer of nitrogenous fertiliser. It was Bakers’ work on an offshore oil and gas acquisition for the parent company that helped win it an instruction on the float of China Blue.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange public offering also featured an international offering to US institutional investors, requiring Rule 144A advice.
Bakers partner Jackie Lo led the firm’s team on the deal, with partners Scott Clemens and Allen Shyu leading the US portion.
Lo said that although the deal had been “not at all straightforward”, Bakers had been lucky “in that we had the right issuer, the right people and the right timing”.
The firm has advised on more than 100 IPOs in Hong Kong, including offerings by Air China, China Life, PetroChina and Huaneng Power International.
Herbert Smith advised JPMorgan and UBS as joint global coordinators and joint lead managers of the offering. Herbert Smith partner Ashley Alder led the firm’s team, with assistance from associates Matt Emsley and Andrew Chan.
Herbert Smith’s US team was led by partner John Moore with support from associates Zhou Zuo and Nancy Xu.
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