Freshfields, Kirkland advised Vision Deal
Freshfields, Kirkland advise Vision Deal
HKSE has now listed Vision Deal as the second SPAC since rules changed in January
Kirkland & Ellis and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised on the Hong Kong listing of Vision Deal, a special purpose acquisition company.
A SPAC has become the second such company to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) following the introduction of rules allowing blank check companies to apply for such listings in January.
As a result of the listing, Vision Deal plans to target companies in China specializing in smart car technology or those with supply chain and cross-border e-commerce capabilities as well as potential targets for de-SPAC.
A de-SPAC transaction will be announced within 18 months of the listing date (10 June) and will be completed within 30 months of the listing date, which is shorter than the time permitted under the new listing rules, according to Freshfields.
Counsel from Kirkland advised Vision Deal, while lawyers from Freshfields' Hong Kong office advised Citigroup Global Markets Asia and Haitong International Capital, the joint sponsors of the transaction.
In addition to David Zhang, Kirkland's team included Mengyu Lu, Steve Lin and Kelvin Chu, all of whom were involved in capital markets. While Zhang and Lu are based in Hong Kong, Lin and Chu are based in Beijing.
The Freshfields team in Hong Kong was led by partners Grace Huang and Arun Balasubramanian. Associate members Randa Leung, Yitian Jin and Jasmine Kwok supported the duo.
Balasubramanian, Huang, and Leung were also on the Acquila Acquisition team involved in the March listing. After the rule change, Acquila became the first SPAC to submit an application to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
During the first quarter of this year, Kirkland ranked fourth in terms of deal value and second in terms of volume in Refinitiv's M&A advisory league tables, having worked on 207 transactions worth $119 billion. Freshfields was the highest ranked UK firm by deal value, coming in at 13th - three slots below where they were last year at this stage in the calendar. They were involved in 42 transactions valued at $51.6 billion.
Skadden and Orrick advised ECARX on its go-public merger with blank check company COVA Acquisition in a $3.82 billion deal last month.
