ENG

  • William JIA

    Equity Partner / Shanghai

  • Tel +86-21-6061-3666

    Email jiahaibo@zhonglun.com

  • Practices

    Hong Kong & Overseas Capital Markets, Chinese Mainland Capital Markets, Cross-border Investment/M&A

  • Industries

    Financial Innovation & Fintech, Telecommunications & Internet, Information & Intelligence Technology, Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences, Media-Sports & Entertainment

CV

William JIA

Mr. Jia focuses on capital markets, private equity/venture capital investments, corporate finance,mergers and acquisitions, covering new economy and innovative industries such as telecommunications and technology, healthcare and life Sciences, advanced manufacturing,advanced consumption and Fintech. Mr. Jia has accumulated rich experience in the capital market (especially overseas red-chip listing projects) and enjoys a good reputation in the industry. He has cooperated with many first-tier investment banks and intermediaries, and has undertaken dozens of overseas listing, privatization and overseas bond issuance projects on Hong Kong, NASDAQ, New York, Frankfurt, etc., including such landmark projects as the overseas listing of JD.Com, Meituan-Dianping, Lufax, Haier Zhijia, Zai Lab, Atour ,the privatization of Focus Media and the overseas bond issuance of Tencent Music.
Mr. Jia has been recommended by Chambers Global, Chambers Asia Pacific, Chambers Greater China Region, Asian Legal Business, Legal 500, IFLR, and endorsed by IFLR as “2021 Asia Future Leader”.

Representative Matters

Capital Markets: 

Overseas listing and issuance

  • Represented Jingdong and Tencent in their e-commerce business asset and equity swap and strategic cooperation, listing on NASDAQ and renewal and multiple rounds of issuance of registered senior unsecured bonds (Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS)

  • Represented Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch as underwriters in connection with the listing of Meituan-Dianping on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Exchange

  • Represented Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, UBS, HSBC and Ping An Securities as underwriters in connection with the listing of Lu Jinshi Holdings on the New York Stock Exchange

  • Represented NetEase in its secondary listing on the Main Board of Hong Kong (CICC, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan)

  • Represented Zedin Pharmaceuticals in its listing and renewal on NASDAQ (J.P. Morgan, Citi, Freshfields and SVB Leerink) and secondary listing in Hong Kong (Citi, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs)

  • Represented Deutsche Bank, CICC, JP Morgan and UBS (underwriters) in connection with the D-share issuance (first ever) of Haier Zhijia (listed on the Shanghai Main Board) on the China Europe International Exchange (CEIBS) in Frankfurt

  • Acted for CICC and JP Morgan (sponsors) in connection with the issuance of H-shares on the Hong Kong Main Board (introductory listing) and the privatization of Haier Electrical Appliances (Hong Kong Main Board)

  • Acted for Bank of America, Haitong International and UBS (Underwriters) in connection with the dual primary listing of Mingchuangyoupin on the Main Board of Hong Kong

  • Acted for CICC and HSBC (underwriters) in the introduction of Conch Environmental Protection to the Main Board of Hong Kong

  • Acted for Trunsun Group in its listing on the Main Board of Hong Kong (Goldman Sachs and CICC)

  • Represented Goldman Sachs and UBS (underwriters) in connection with the listing of Keji Pharmaceuticals on the Main Board of Hong Kong

  • Acted for Genting Sun Yiu in its listing on the Main Board of Hong Kong (Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch)

  • Acted for Ocwenview on its listing on the Main Board of Hong Kong (Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs)

  • Acted for Tongcheng Yilong in its listing on the Main Board of Hong Kong (Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and CMBI)

  • Represented Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered (underwriters) in connection with the listing of Hoze Water Purification on the Main Board of Hong Kong

  • Acted for Yihua Holdings in its listing on the Main Board of Hong Kong (Morgan Stanley and CCB)

  • Acted for Legend Bio in its listing on NASDAQ (Goldman Sachs, Freshfields and Bank of America)

  • Represented Citi, Freshfields, Piper Sandler and Wells Fargo (underwriters) in connection with the NASDAQ listing of Ganci Biologics

  • Represented Ampico Bio in connection with its NASDAQ listing (Xiyuan and Aptar)

  • Represented Citi, China Renaissance and China Merchants International (underwriters)  in connection with the NASDAQ IPO of Garnant Technology

  • Represented Morgan Stanley and CICC (underwriters) in connection with the NASDAQ IPO of Qingke

  • Represented Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan Chase and CICC (underwriters) in connection with the NASDAQ listing of Yunjie

  • Represented Huami Technology in its NYSE listing (Credit Suisse, Citi and China Renaissance) and renewal (Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Citi)

  • Represented Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (underwriter) in connection with the Nasdaq listing of Terasic Holdings

  • Represented Xunlei in its NASDAQ IPO (JPMorgan and Citi) and the restructuring of its business including the sale of Xunlei Look after the IPO

  • Represented CenturyLink in its listing on NASDAQ (Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citi) and its post-IPO M&A program, as well as its privatization from NASDAQ and merger with Lily.com

  • Represented Noah Wealth in its listing on the New York Stock Exchange (JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America Merrill Lynch)

  • Represented Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (underwriters) in connection with the listing of Huazhu Hotels (Hanting) on the NASDAQ

 

Overseas bond issuance:

  • Represented Jingdong Group JD.Com in its offshore offering of USD 1 billion corporate bonds

  • Represented the underwriters (BofA, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, among  others) in connection with Tencent Music's issuance of USD 800 million  registered senior unsecured bonds

  • Represented Huarong Shipping Finance Leasing Company Limited in its offshore issuance of USD 300 million corporate bonds and the establishment of an offshore medium-term note program (Standard Chartered and Faba)

  • Represented Cinda Capital, Haitong International and other investment banks as joint bookrunners in the issuance of USD 220 million offshore bonds by Zhenjiang Transportation Industry Group Co.

  • Acted for a number of investment banks, including Barclays, as joint bookrunners in connection with the issuance of USD 220 million overseas bonds by Zhenjiang Transportation Industry Group Limited in 2016

  • Acted for the bookrunners (Banco Internacional de Macau, Bank of China Macau Branch, etc.) in relation to the USD 220 million offshore bond issuance by Xiamen International Trade Holding Group

  • Acted for Citi (bookrunner) in connection with the issuance of offshore bonds by Meinian Health

 

Private Equity, Investment & Financing and Mergers & Acquisitions:

  • Represented Jingdong Group in its strategic cooperation with Tencent and acquisition of Tencent's e-commerce business.

  • Represented  a group of private equity sponsors (including Carlyle Group, FountainVest, CITIC Capital and China Everbright Holdings' respective affiliates) in its USD 3.7 billion privatization of Focus Media Holdings Ltd.

  • Represented the merger of Tongcheng Network and Yilong Travel Network to form Tongcheng Yilong and its pre-IPO restructuring and share transfer

  • Represented American International Group in its investment in Chongqing Lifan Group 

  • Represented Interchina Equipment (GEM-listed) in its acquisition of Xuchuang (renamed as Interchina Xuchuang) by way of a major asset reorganization for shares plus cash

  • Represented Jiang Xiaobai in its red chip reorganization and Series C financing

  • Represented L Capital (a private equity fund sponsored by LVMH) in its investments in Marumi Group (cosmetics) and Hecky Group (OTSL apparel)

  • Represented Credit Suisse's RepuTex Fund in its investments in Liaoning Dajin Heavy Industry (equipment manufacturing) and Palm Springs Holdings (real estate)

  • Represented Rexam in its investment in Hoze Water Purification

  • Represented Xunlei Limited in the completion of its Series D financing 

  • Represented Credit Lyonnais in its investment in Zhejiang Yadi

  • Represented German Shaw, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and HSBC in their restructuring financing of Heng Sheng Properties (listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange)

  • Represented RBS and Deutsche Bank in connection with their investment in China Newtown (listed in Singapore)

  • Acted for ADM Capital in its project financing for Yingli Energy and Tianqi Lithium

  • Represented Au Capital in its financing of Xianglong Holdings (later renamed Dukang Holdings) in its acquisition of Luoyang Dukang Group 

  • Represented a syndicate of banks (Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and HSBC as lead bank) in the privatization of Pactera Technology Ltd.

  • Acted for a group of sponsors, including Morgan Stanley, in its privatization of Noah's Ark Education Holdings Ltd.

  • Represented SITA Capital in the privatization of China Food Packaging Limited, a company listed on the Korean GEM KOSDAQ market

  • Represented Century Jiayuan in its privatization from NASDAQ and merger with Lily.com

  • Represented the special committee of WisdomTree in connection with its privatization and delisting from the New York Stock Exchange

  • Represented Sogou/management in connection with its privatization and delisting from the NYSE

Honors and Awards

For Individual:

Ranked Practitioner, Chambers Global 2023 - Capital Markets (Debt and Equity)

Ranked Practitioner, Chambers China Region 2022 - Capital Markets (Debt and Equity)

Specially Recommended Lawyer, The Legal 500 2017, 2018 & 2020

Ranked Practitioner, Chambers Asia Pacific 2021 - Capital Markets (Debt and Equity)

Notable Lawyer , Asialaw Profiles 2020 - Capital Markets and Private Equity

Distinguished Practitioner, Asialaw Profiles 2020

Asia Future Leaders, IFLR 2021

For Projects:

Atour Nasdaq IPO: asialaw Awards 2023 Impact Deal/Case of the Year, and IFLR1000 China Awards 2023 Deal of Year (Shanghai)

Outstanding Equity Financing Transactions, China Law & Practice 2022 - Unitop Bio IPO

Impact Deal/Case of the Year Award, ALB 2021 - Lufthansa's New York Stock Exchange listing

Deals of the Year, China Business Law Journal 2021 - Sogou New York Stock Exchange Privatization

Deals of the Year (Shanghai), IFLR 2021 - Lufthansa's New York Stock Exchange listing

Impact Deal/Case of the Year Award, Asialaw Profiles 2020 & 2021 - Haier Zhijia Issues H Shares and Privatizes Haier Electrical Appliances & Qingdao Haier's first D-share listing

Deals of the Year, China Business Law Journal 2020 - NetEase's secondary listing in Hong Kong & Haier Zhijia Issues H Shares and Privatizes Haier Electrical Appliances & Lufthansa's U.S. IPO

Deals of the Year, China Business Law Journal 2018 - Meituan Dianping listed in Hong Kong & Qingdao Haier D-share listing in Frankfurt

M&A Deal of the Year in China, ALB 2015 - Jingdong acquires Tencent's e-commerce business

Private Equity Deal of the Year in Asia, IFLR 2014 - Privatization of Focus Media

Global M&A Deal of the Year (China Private Equity), American Lawyer 2014 - Privatization of Focus Media

High-Yield Deal of the Year in China, IFLR 2014 - Privatization of Pactera

Deals of the Year, China Business Law Journal 2014 - Jingdong Nasdaq IPO & Jingdong and Tencent Strategic Cooperation

Private Equity Deal of the Year in China, Asia Law & Practice 2013 –Privatization of Focus Media

Publications

"Exploration of Certain Legal Risks of VIE Structure", Law Press, May 2013

Related

  • Bar Admissions/Professional Qualifications

    PRC Bar

  • Education

    LL.M., University of California, Berkeley
    LL.M., University of Groningen
    LL.B., Dongbei University of Finance and Economics

  • Professional Experience

    Equity Partner, Zhong Lun Law Firm
    Associate, Hylands Law Firm
    Associate, Shanghai Brilliance Law Firm
    Paralegal, Fangda Partners

  • Languages

    English
    Chinese