Hong Kong: International law firm Richards Butler in Association with Reed Smith announced today that it acted for CITIC Group in the sale of a 70% interest in CITIC International Financial Holdings Limited (holding company of CITIC Ka Wah Bank in Hong Kong) to China CITIC Bank for US$1.7 billion.
China CITIC Bank entered into the Share Purchase Agreement with CITIC Group and Gloryshare Investments on 8 May 2009, pursuant to which the Bank agreed to acquire a 70.32% interest in CIFH for a cash consideration of HK$13,563,077,789.3 from Gloryshare Investments.
CIFH was previously a company listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
ENDS
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Richards Butler Hong Kong commenced practice in 1980 and is one of the largest law firms in Hong Kong. The firm enjoys a market leading position, having benefited from early entry into the market, and has led the way on many significant matters in Asia. The Hong Kong office joined forces with Reed Smith in January 2008. The combined firm has a leading practice in Greater China, with more than 130 lawyers in Hong Kong, a growing office in Beijing and plans to open an office in Shanghai. Our Asian Practice is truly international in scope, covering the complete range of specializations including banking and finance, aviation, shipping, project financing, commodities advice, company and commercial work, real estate, corporate and regulatory, general commercial litigation, international trade, arbitration and intellectual property.
Our Beijing team has decades of experience in handling first-of their-kind transactions, including one of the first hotel joint ventures, the first JV related arbitration and one of the first mergers under the new M&A regulation. Our PRC team has been closely involved with the evolution of Chinese law and policy in the areas of customs, distribution and trading rights, IP protection, tariffs, antitrust, employment law and the regulation of trade and investment. The team has also worked to open up key markets for overseas product and service providers across a number of industry sectors.