Shearman & Sterling LLP Moves to Acquire Leading Hong Kong Law Practice - Reinforcing Asia Growth Strategy

HONG KONG, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Global law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP today announced its intention to launch a Hong Kong law practice with the addition of two leading corporate partners, Colin Law and Peter Chen, to the Hong Kong office.

Mr. Law joins Shearman & Sterling as partner and co-head of the Hong Kong office from the Hong Kong office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, where he led its Hong Kong corporate practice. Mr. Law has extensive experience advising on a broad range of mergers and acquisitions transactions and securities offerings and has experience in a wide range of industries, including the financial services, insurance, natural resources and telecom sectors. He is both UK- and Hong Kong-qualified and regularly represents multinational corporations and global investment and commercial banking firms with Hong Kong listings, takeovers of public companies, regulatory matters and debt capital markets transactions.

Mr. Chen joins as a partner from the Hong Kong office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Hong Kong-qualified, Mr. Chen specializes in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions and has advised on numerous Hong Kong and London initial public offerings. He has advised clients in a broad range of industries, most recently in the technology, telecom, financial services and consumer products sectors.

Mr. Law and Mr. Chen are establishing a local law firm which, upon approval of the Hong Kong Law Society, will be merged into Shearman's Hong Kong operations.

At Shearman & Sterling, Mr. Law and Mr. Chen join an already highly regarded Greater China corporate team, led by Matthew Bersani, Asia Managing Partner and Lee Edwards, head of the firm's China Practice. Other corporate partners include M&A practitioners Greg Puff, Huang Ling and Paul Strecker and capital markets practitioners Kyungwon Lee and Alan Seem. Highlights of the team's recent experience include advising Sichuan Tengzhong on its proposed acquisition of the Hummer brand from GM and the underwriters on the US$2.35bn IPO of Metallurgical Corp of China- one of the largest Hong Kong IPOs of 2009.

Rohan S. Weerasinghe, Senior Partner of Shearman & Sterling, said, "Our new Hong Kong Law practice, once approved by the Hong Kong Law Society, will significantly bolster our already formidable Asian capabilities. Colin and Peter are exceptional lawyers, and we are confident that they will be instrumental in the establishment of an outstanding Hong Kong law capability and in our continued growth throughout the region."

"We are delighted to welcome lawyers of Colin's and Peter's caliber to our Asia team. Their extensive experience handling complex M&A transactions and securities offerings combined with their Hong Kong law capabilities make them a perfect fit for us. This move will enable us to serve existing demand for 'one stop,' top-tier legal services as well as to tap into a wealth of future opportunities in the region," added Bersani.

Both Mr. Law and Mr. Chen are recognized as leading lawyers in the fields of Corporate/M&A and Capital Markets in the major legal directories, including Chambers Asia 2009 and the IFLR 1000 2010 editions.

Globally, Shearman & Sterling's corporate practice is recognized as a prominent global legal advisor on complex corporate transactions - the firm is ranked 3rd in Worldwide Announced (by value) with $267.9 billion, 137 deals and 12.9% market share by Thomson Reuters.

The firm's practice in Asia regularly handles some of the most significant domestic and cross-border transactions for clients including governments, state-owned entities, leading financial institutions and corporates from offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. The team's experience in Asia spans a wide range of transactions, including cross-border joint ventures, outbound investments in U.S. and European corporations, foreign direct investments, public and private acquisitions and divestitures, initial public offerings, private placements of securities, debt and equity derivative securities, high-yield debt offerings, equity and debt shelf offerings, and ADR and GDR programs.

For additional information contact:

Caroline Watts | Marketing | Hong Kong | +852 2978 8068 | [email protected]

ABOUT SHEARMAN & STERLING

Shearman & Sterling LLP is a global law firm with approximately 900 lawyers in 20 offices in 12 countries. The firm is a leader in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, project development and finance, complex business litigation and international arbitration, asset management and tax.

SOURCE Shearman & Sterling LLP