Ropes & Gray has represented Hong Kong-based Hutchison China MediTech Limited’s (China-Med)’s U.S initial public offering. King Wood & Mallesons and Conyers Dill & Pearman also acted for the listing company, advising on Chinese matters and Cayman Islands law, respectively.
Meanwhile, the IPO’s underwriters tapped Shearman& Sterling as its international counsel and JunHe LLP as its PRC legal counsel.
China-Med, founded in 2000 by Hutchison Whampoa, makes cancer and arthritis drugs and medical devices. The company, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006, has seven drug candidates in clinical-stage trials, three of which it is developing with units of Big Pharma firms AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly and Co as well as food and beverage giant Nestlé.
The Ropes & Gray team was led by Hong Kong partner Paul Boltz and Boston-based partners Marc Rubenstein and Elaine Murphy. A cross-border team headed by Matthew Bersani in Hong Kong handled the transaction for Shearman.
China-Med’s IPO comes as far fewer Chinese companies have listed in the U.S. last year than in 2014, according to Thomson Reuters data.