Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has hired Sarah Zeng as a partner in its M&A and private equity practice from Dentons, where she was managing partner of its Beijing office.

Zeng is expected to work with Orrick’s Africa team in supporting Chinese companies investing in Africa and other emerging markets. She is the firm’s fourth lateral partner hire in China in the past year, and the 18th in the firm’s global M&A practice since 2016. 

With more than 25 years of corporate law experience advising both Chinese SOEs as well as U.S.-headquartered multinational companies, Zeng has particular experience in the power, energy and manufacturing sectors. She led the Dentons team that advised MMG Limited on a $5.85 billion acquisition of copper mine assets in Peru in 2014.

Prior to joining Dentons, Zeng was general counsel of Hong Kong-listed Weichai Power. She led the legal team when it acquired a 75 percent stake in Ferretti Group for 374 million euro ($437 million) through debt restructuring in 2012. She was previously vice-president and China country manager for EI Paso Corporation, where she chaired the boards of four power plants owned by the company in China. 

“With Zeng’s addition, and Jeff Zhang’s arrival last month, we have a distinctively strong platform to serve SOEs and private enterprises in their outbound investment activities, drawing on the firm’s fully integrated global network,” said Xiang Wang, Orrick’s Asia Managing Partner.