Shearman & Sterling has advised Chinese Internet operator Sina Corp on its $586 million sale of 18 percent shares in its microblogging service subsidiary Weibo to e-commerce company Alibaba Group.

Sina has also granted an option to Alibaba to increase its stake in Weibo, valued at $3 billion, to up to 30 percent within a stipulated time.

Weibo is a leading Chinese-language social media platform by Nasdaq-listed Sina, and Alibaba is the largest e-commerce company in China. The deal marks the strategic alliance of two Internet giants, which is expected to generate up to $380 million in advertising and social commerce services revenues in aggregate for Weibo over the next three years.

For their long-time client Sina, Shearman & Sterling deployed a team of lawyers from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto, led by Beijing-based M&A partner Lee Edwards and assisted by counsel Wayne Lee, associates Denise Ho and Yvonne Cheng. Partners Laurence Crouch (Palo Alto-Tax) and Richard Hsu were also involved in this transaction.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, meanwhile, acted as the counsel to Alibaba, with Fangda Partners and Walkers advising Alibaba on PRC and Cayman Islands law.

Liu Zhen is senior China journalist at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.

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