Shearman & Sterling and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton have acted on China’s Simcere Pharmaceutical Group’s agreement to be taken private for about $495 million by a consortium led by founder Jingsheng Ren.

The buyers’ consortium, which already owns about 78 percent of Simcere, includes Ren, founder and chairman, Simcere CEO Hongquan Liu, and Hony Capital, a Chinese private equity firm.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advised the buyer group, while Shearman & Sterling acted as U.S. counsel to the special committee of Simcere’s board of directors.

Hong Kong M&A partner Paul Strecker led the Shearman & Sterling team, supported by Hong Kong partner Shuang Zhao, Singapore partner Sanja Udovicic, New York partner Doreen Lilienfeld, Palo Alto partners Laurence Crouch and Richard Hsu, and Hong Kong-based M&A counsel Yi Zhang.

U.S. investigations into suspect accounting practices at some Chinese firms have made it difficult for others to raise capital in the country, leading them to leave.

Simcere said the China Merchants Bank, New York has committed to provide debt financing of $85 million.

Recent management-led buyout offers include crop nutrient maker Yongye International Inc and China’s largest technology outsourcing company Pactera Technology International.

The transaction is expected to close around the end of 2013.

Kanishk Verghese is North Asia journalist at ALB. Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.

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