DEALS
Zhong Lun Represents Prudential for Acquisition of Equity Interests in Everbright Pramerica Fund Management Co., Ltd.
Zhong Lun Represents Prudential for Acquisition of Equity Interests in Everbright Pramerica Fund Management Co., Ltd.
On April 11, 2011, Shanghai Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) accepted the filing application submitted by Everbright Pramerica Fund Management Co., Ltd. (EPFM) for the equity transfer transaction (Equity Transfer Transaction) in which EPFM’s Chinese shareholder Everbright Securities Co., Ltd. (Everbright) transfered 12% equity interests in EPFM to EPFM’s foreign shareholder Prudential Investment Management, Inc. (PIM), which marked the completion of the Equity Transfer Transaction. The transfer price was RMB330 million. After the equity transfer, PIM’s equity percentage in EPFM has increased from 33% to 45%, and Everbright’s equity percentage has reduced from 67% to 55%.
In this Equity Transfer Transaction, Zhong Lun Law Firm Shanghai office senior partner Mr. Zhou Yun led a team comprising associates Gao Ting, Dai Ying and Zhang Jie to act as the PRC legal counsel and provided legal services for PIM and EPFM respectively. Since this Equity Transfer Transaction involved State-owned enterprises controlled by the central government and financial enterprises, it involved several complicated formalities such as tendering and bidding procedures with Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange, China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and Ministry of Commerce approval formalities and SAIC registration formalities. During the course of this transaction, we provided various legal services in connection with the above-said governmental formalities, advised on the transfer of the State-owned assets in financial enterprises, corporate restructuring of fund management companies, foreign exchange regulations and issued a PRC legal opinion accordingly.
Everbright is a national joint-stock and comprehensive securities company invested and controlled by China Everbright Group Limited, which is a conglomerate managed by Chinese central government. Everbright is also one of the three innovative pilot companies approved by CSRC and it was listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange on August 18, 2009. As of June 30, 2010, Everbright had the registered capital of RMB3.418 billion, net capital of RMB17.034 billion, net assets of RMB21.474 billion and total assets of RMB57.557 billion. EPFM’s foreign shareholder PIM is an indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial Group, which is one of the largest financial groups in the United States conducting various business throughout the world, including insurance, fund and securities. Mr. Zhou Yun and his team have been advising Prudential Financial Group on its investment and transactions in China for many years.
