Yi Zhang and Graham Winter have joined the Hong Kong office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as partners.
Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Zhang was with O’Melveny & Myers, and Winter will join the firm from Reed Smith Richards Butler. Corporate partner Joseph Barbeau and litigation partner Kelly Austin lead the Hong Kong office, which opened in August of 2010.
Joseph Barbeau, Partner in Charge of Gibson Dunn’s Hong Kong office was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “Both Yi and Graham are seasoned, senior lawyers, and their depth of experience in Hong Kong and China will be critical additions to our capacity. Over his 16 years in Hong Kong, Yi has built a well-established, China-focused practice that includes very significant foreign investment, M&A, private equity and project development transactions in China in a wide range of industries. In Hong Kong since 1992, Graham is a Hong Kong-qualified lawyer with a leading Hong Kong practice specializing in advising on complex corporate transactions, including cross-border M&A transactions, privatizations, joint ventures, private equity transactions and international corporate finance transactions. Outside Hong Kong, Graham has extensive experience across the Asia Pacific region, including China, Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia.”
Ken Doran, Managing Partner and Chairman of Gibson Dunn was quoted as saying: “We are extremely pleased to have Yi and Graham join our firm. Yi and Graham are highly regarded in the business and legal communities in Hong Kong and China, and their experience will enhance our ability to field the most complex transactions across most of Asia. Their arrival is another important step forward for our Asia strategy, which is focused on strengthening our Hong Kong and Singapore offices and looking for the right opportunities in China.”
Zhang corporate practice focuses on China, and covers a broad range of transactions, including investment funds, foreign direct investment, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital, real estate and distressed asset transactions, and large-scale project development and infrastructure. He was formerly the head of O’Melveny’s Hong Kong office.
He has provided representation for multinational companies, commercial and investment banks, and international private equity funds making investments in China and Chinese companies making outbound investments. His clients have included AES, BP, Carlyle, China Development Bank, Citic PE, Darby Asia Investors, D.E. Shaw & Co., Deutsche Bank, Dow Chemical, Export-Import Bank of China, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Guangdong Dapeng LNG Company, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, SOCAM Development, Sithe Global Power, Temasek, UBS and Yida Group, among others.
In 1992, Winter was admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong. He has extensive experience in a wide range of complex corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, private equity, capital markets and securities, corporate governance, compliance, joint ventures and restructurings. In particular, he has experience with transactions governed by the Hong Kong Takeovers Code and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Listing Rules., Winter has experience across Asia, including China, Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia, in addition to his Hong Kong practice.
Winter is recognized as a leading practitioner by various industry publications, including Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 Asia Pacific and Practical Law.
Winter has provided advice on various ground-breaking transactions, including representing SABMiller in relation to its US$750 million proposed takeover of Harbin Brewery, Hong Kong’s first contested takeover under the Hong Kong Takeovers Code. Most recently, he represented PCCW Limited in relation to the proposed spin-off and separate listing of its telecommunications business in the form of a novel structure involving a listed trust, which would be the first listing of its kind in Hong Kong.
Winter has represented multinational companies, commercial and investment banks and international private equity funds. He has also represented PCCW Limited, First Pacific Company Limited, Melco International Development Limited, 3i Group plc, Baring Private Equity Asia Limited, SABMiller and The Royal Bank of Scotland, among others.
Gibson Dunn is planning to convert its Hong Kong office into a local solicitors firm when approved to do so under regulations in force. Until then, in accordance with Hong Kong regulatory requirements, Winter and other solicitors will form a separate firm that will practice in association with Gibson Dunn when approved by the Law Society of Hong Kong.