Newly established FenXun Partners’ recent service to Central Huijin proves that young firms can step up if they have the right expertise. The firm, established late last year by former Lovells’ partner Fred Chang, recently advised Central Huijin Investment, the largest shareholder of the country's state-controlled banks and the domestic arm of China Investment Corporation (CIC), on its US$8bn bond issuance in Shanghai.
As sole legal advisor on the issuance, the firm also provided brief legal advice to the underwriters– China Development Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, China International Capital and China Galaxy Securities. According to Yang Xusheng, one of two partners on the deal (the other being Wang Yingzhe), FenXun Partners won the pitch over three other shortlisted candidates.
“Our clientele consists of mainly MNCs and they are always interested in our relationships with the SOEs,” Yang said. “Winning such a significant client over has boosted our confidence greatly. Although we haven’t been established for long, the client took into consideration our partners’ individual experience and expertise. Having this deal in our records will boost our standing as legal advisors to the SOEs.”
Being sole counsel on the deal came with great challenges, according to Yang. “The industry in which Huijin deals is highly regulated. A lot of their documents we needed to review in order to provide a sound legal opinion were classified material. We had to spend a lot of time communicating confidentiality clauses to make sure we weren’t in violation of state secrets legislations.” The fact that Central Huijin owns shares in state-owned banks also posed a string of complex challenges. “A number of these banks have been very active on the stock exchanges. This means that Huijin’s shares percentage in them fluctuates all the time. We had to constantly update their shareholder status and get the deal out in the shortest time possible,” he added.
Beijing-based FenXun Partners specialises in banking & finance, M&A, PE and FDI-type work. Many partners, including Yang Xusheng , Fred Chang, Wang Yingzhe, Hu Jun, Howard Yang and Tan Peng, have all come to the firm from leading international firms like Shearman & Sterling, Lovells and Simpson Thacher. ALB
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