Linklaters said a four-person team of the law firm in Hong Kong advised the Bank of East Asia and NWS Holdings' $800 million sale of Tricor to private equity giant Permira.
The law firm has been in Hong Kong for 40 years and is increasingly active in financial services: earlier this year, it advised China Construction Bank and others on a HK$39 billion loan for bad-loan bank China Cinda to acquire Nanyang Commercial Bank.
On Wednesday, Linklaters said it advised Bank of East Asia and NWS Holdings on their sale of Tricor to Permira following a strategic review.
Bank of East Asia, run by the founding Li family, has recently come under pressure from Elliott Management, an activist investor which had called for the sale.
Strategy Review
“This transaction represents an excellent outcome for Bank of East Asia, which announced to the market some time back that it was conducting a strategic review of Tricor in line with its overall strategy,” said Linklaters partner and Asia corporate head Robert Cleaver.
The law firm said Cleaver and managing associate Johanna Leung as well as associates Ginny Ng and David Liu facilitated the deal.
Tricor provides corporate and investor services, and recorded net profit of HK$292.8 million last year.
