The new King & Wood Mallesons successfully completed the first joint case after their merger in December 2011. The new law firm had advised China’s Shenhua Group on its acquisition of an Australian wind farm.
Chinese firm King & Wood and Australia-headquartered Mallesons Stephen Jaques announced their alliance plan on Dec. 15, 2011, which created the largest law firm in the Asia-Pacific region. The Shenhua deal marked the first cooperation project involving Beijing and Sydney as one firm.
The King & Wood Beijing office and the Mallesons Sydney office respectively served as legal counsels on Chinese and Australian law for Guohua Energy Investment Co Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the state-owned mining and energy producer Shenhua Group, on its AUD 88.6 million ($95.05 million) acquisition of 75 percent interest in the Woolnorth wind farm project from its Australian owner Hydro Tasmania.
The King & Wood team was led by senior partners Xu Ping, Harry Du, and Xiong Jin. The Mallesons team was led by project finance partner Peter Doyle, and senior solicitor Claire Rogers. Their cooperation was praised by the client to be “demonstrating the seamless service model and strong market competitiveness brought by the top law firm in China and Australia,” according to a statement.
The Woolnorth wind farm is located in the northwest of Tasmania with a total capacity of 140MW. Hydro Tasmania, Australia’s largest renewable energy producer, will retain the other 25 percent stake, and take care of the operational management. Hydro Tasmania was represented by Norton Rose in this transaction.
In another recent transaction, King & Wood advised Chinese enterprise group, Weichai Holding Group, on its 374 million Euros ($ 492.75 million) bailout of the world’s largest luxury yacht maker, the Ferretti Group, and helped it acquire 75 percent shares in the debt-laden Italian company.
In the debt restructuring procedure of Ferretti, which was badly hit by the global crisis, Weichai reached an agreement with the major creditors to provide 196 million Euros of debt financing in addition to 178 million Euros of equity investment.
Clifford Chance, Cleary Gottlieb, and a few other Italian local firms were also involved in the complicated multiparty transaction. ALB
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