ENG

  • Yongchun ZHU

    Equity Partner / Beijing

  • Tel +86-10-5957-2288

    Email zhuyongchun@zhonglun.com

  • Practices

    Private Equity & Investment Funds, Antitrust & Competition, Litigation & Arbitration

  • Industries

    Pharmaceuticals & Life Sciences, Intelligence Technology & Application

CV

Yongchun ZHU

Johnson Zhu has over 20 years of experience practicing as a lawyer, and his main practice areas include private equity and investment funds, antitrust and competition, as well as litigation and arbitration.

He has been focusing on private equity and investment funds throughout his career and amassed substantial experience in these domains from the outset. He has advised many onshore and offshore funds in their RMB and USD investments from angel rounds to pre-IPO rounds in various fields, such as semiconductor/IC, TMT, and biomedical. He has also assisted many startups in completing multiple rounds of onshore and offshore RMB or USD financings, delivering comprehensive legal services from establishment to IPO. Further, Johnson also provides fund manager registration, fundraising, and filing services to onshore and offshore funds.

In investment/M&A, Johnson provides full-process legal services (including but not limited to transaction structure design, due diligence, negotiation of transaction documents, closing assistance, etc.) for enterprises in their domestic and overseas investments and M&As, and has advised many large-scale investment/M&A transactions with certain social influence.

On the antitrust and competition front, Johnson advises enterprises on antitrust compliance matters, including providing legal services on Chinese merger filing involved in major M&A and investment and financing transactions.

Representative Matters

Recent Highlights in Capital Market and M&A

  • Advised NAURA (002371.SZ) on its acquisition of the assets of Akrion Systems LLC, a U.S. company (the first acquisition by a PRC acquiror in the U.S. as approved by CIFUS under the Trump administration)

  • Advised Unisplendour Technology on the sale of 67.82% equity interest in Unis Holdings (00365.HK)

  • Advised Tsinghua Unigroup Co., Ltd. on its cross-border acquisition of France-based Linxens Group

  • Advised Tsinghua Unigroup Co., Ltd. on its acquisition of certain equity in Siliconware Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., a mainland subsidiary of SPIL (2325.TW) in Suzhou, and on the establishment of a Sino-foreign equity joint venture enterprise

  • Advised Tsinghua Unigroup Co., Ltd. on its acquisition of certain equity in Suzhou Asen Semiconductors Co., Ltd., a mainland subsidiary of ASE (2311.TW) in Suzhou, and on the establishment of a Sino-foreign equity joint venture enterprise

  • Advised Tibet Unigroup State Microelectronics Investment Co., Ltd. on its acquisition of Unimos Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of ChipMOS (8150.TW) in Shanghai, and on the establishment of a Sino-foreign equity joint venture enterprise

  • Advised Zhaohua Investment on the sale of Zhaohua Pioneer to Fujian Longzhou Transportation Co., Ltd. (002682.SZ) by means of share exchange and cash

  • Advised Unisplendour Corporation Limited (000938.SZ) on its cross-border acquisition of H3C from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and its private placement

  • Advised the consortium of HUA Capital, CITIC Capital, and Goldstone Investment on the take-private of OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI) and related financing (approx. USD 2 billion)

  • First A2A case: Advised Xiamen Insight Investment Co., Ltd. (000526.SZ) on its direct cross-border take-private acquisition of Xueda Education Group (NYSE: XUE) and its private placement (USD about 400 million)

  • Advised China Mobile (00941.HK) and its affiliated parties on the investment in China Tower (about hundreds of billion RMB)

  • Advised Unigroup Spreadtrum and RDA on their cross-border equity financing with an amount of CNY 9 billion from Intel

  • Advised China State-owned Capital VC Fund Co., Ltd. on the private placement of Sun.King Power Electronics Group Limited (00580.HK)

  • Advised BlueFocus Communication Group (300058.SZ) on its domestic and overseas equity acquisition of a mobile advertising platform Domob (over CNY 1.8 billion)

  • Advised Ansteel Group on the establishment of a Sino-foreign equity joint venture enterprise with Kobelco


Recent Highlights in Merger Control/Anti-trust Filings

  • Advised Private Theory on its AML filing regarding the concentration of undertakings due to its acquisition of Arc Holdings

  • Advised a HK listed company on its potential AML investigation regarding the concentration of undertakings due to its acquisition of a PRC company

  • Advised Guoxin Micro on its AML filing regarding the concentration of undertakings due to its cross-border acquisition of French Linxens Group

  • Advised Unisplendour Corporation Limited (000938.SZ) on its AML filing regarding the concentration of undertakings due to its contemplated cross-border acquisition of Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC)

  • Advised Tsinghua Unigroup Co., Ltd. on its AML investigation regarding the concentration of undertakings due to its cross-border take-private acquisition of RDA Microelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ: RDA)

  • Advised a chip design company on its proposed investigation in unfair competition to SAIC

  • Advised Bombardier on anti-trust compliance legal issues in relation to its establishment of a JV and related merger filing

  • Advised on the merger filings for Ansteel Corporation Limited’s acquisition of two subsidiaries of ThyssenKrupp

  • Advised on the merger filing for Unisplendour Corporation Limited’s cross-border acquisition of H3C

  • Advised on merger filing for the consortium of HUA Capital, CITIC Capital, and Goldstone Investment in its take-private of OmniVision Technologies (NASDAQ: OVTI)

  • Advised an state-owned enterprise on anti-trust compliance legal issues in relation to its potential acquisition of an oversea IT enterprise


Other Mandates

  • Advised Shunwei, Hua Capital, Vivo Capital, Wise Road Capita, Warburg Pincus, SAIF, Wanda Investment, Heju PE, etc. on their USD and RMB investments

  • Advised offshore/onshore funds in their fund manager registrations with AMAC, fundraisings, and filing

  • Assisted many startups in their USD and RMB financings, including the establishment and removal of VIE structure

Honors and Awards

For Individual

Special recommended, The Legal 500, 2019

Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers: Legal Expertise, Protecting & Unlocking Value (Asia-Pacific headquartered), Standout Award, Financial Times, 2017

For Deal

NAURA Technology acquires Akrion Systems, China Business Law Journal: Deal of the Year, 2017

Unisplendour-H3C Acquisition, Asian-MENA Counsel: Deal of the Year, 2016

HP and Tsinghua's $2.5 billion Partnership, China Law & Practice: M&A Deal of the Year, 2016

Hewlett-Packard's $2.3 billion sale of 51% of H3C to Tsinghua Unisplendour, Finance Asia: Best China Deal, 2016

China Consortium's Acquisition of OmniVision Technologies, China Business Law Journal: Deal of the Year, 2016

  • Bar Admissions/Professional Qualifications

    PRC Bar, 2004

  • Education

    LL.M., Tsinghua Law School
    B.A., Tsinghua University

  • Professional Experience

    Partner, Zhong Lun Law Firm, 2012 to present
    V&T Law Firm Beijing, 2011-2012
    Fangda Partners Beijing, 2005-2011
    Qiyuan Law Firm Changsha, 2003-2005
    Shanghai First Intermediate Court Shanghai, 2002-2003

  • Languages

    Chinese
    English