| GLG Life Tech Corporation (GLG) IPO | US$31.7m | |
|---|---|---|
| Synopsis GLG has closed an offering of 4.168m common shares at US$7.60 per share on the NASDAQ | ||
| Firm | Client | Role |
|
DLA Piper |
GLG | International counsel |
| Fasken Martineau DuMoulin | GLG | Canadian counsel |
| Shandong Jinruntong Law Firm | GLG | PRC counsel |
| Choate Hall & Stewart | Underwriters* | US counsel |
| Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy | Underwriters | Canadian counsel |
| Han Kun Law Offices [Lead partner: Charles Li] |
Underwriters | PRC counsel |
PRC law firms have been involved with the listing of GLG, a Canadian company with substantial Chinese operations, on the NASDAQ. Both Han Kun and Shandong Jinruntong were required to complete extensive due diligence investigations of the company’s Chinese operations in order to ensure that information provided in the prospectus was accurate.
“We also helped to review the SEC filings,” said Charles Li, partner at Han Kun. “We had to make sure that all the descriptions of PRC law and the company’s operations in China were precisely described in the filings with the SEC.” The law firms also had to work with one another to settle the legal opinion issued by Shandong Jinruntong. Legal opinions can sometimes be quite heavily negotiated but in this case the opinion was finalised relatively quickly. “For this deal, the law firm was quite co-operative,” said Li.
GLG supplies high purity stevia, which is an all natural, zero-calorie sweetener used in food and beverages, and will use the proceeds of this IPO in part to make capital payments for its subsidiary Qingdao Runhao Stevia High Tech in relation to its long term investment agreement with the Qingdao Export Refine Management Committee. Pursuant to this investment agreement the company will develop 215 acres of land, the first phase of which involves the construction of a secondary processing facility with capacity for 2,000 metric tons of high-grade stevia.
“As stevia generates growing interest in the worldwide food and beverage market, GLG has joined other China-focused companies in expanding its global reach and accessing the international capital markets,” said Matt Adler partner at DLA Piper. Han Kun also expects to be very busy with capital markets related work in the next few months. Li already has around 10 deals in the pipeline and believes that the market is now quickly recovering.
*The underwriters were: Canaccord Adams, GMP Securities, Roth Capital Partners, Desjardins Securities and Wellington West
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