PRESS STATEMENT
Clifford Chance advises Carlyle on investments into Ant Financial and Baidu FSG
Hong Kong/Beijing: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance advised The Carlyle Group on two major investment transactions in China’s fintech sector:
- Subscription of the Series C preference shares issued by Ant International Co., Limited, a wholly owned offshore subsidiary of Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group Co., Ltd. (Ant Financial), which is part of Ant Financial’s equity financing totaling US$14 billion.
- US$1.9 billion equity investment into the financial services group of Baidu (also known by its brand name as ‘Du Xiaoman’, ‘Baidu FSG’) in connection with its spin-off from Baidu.
The investment in Ant Financial was announced in June 2018. Other than Carlyle, a number of other leading global institutional investors also participated in this round of equity financing.
The investment in Baidu FSG was made by a group of investors led by Carlyle and TPG. After the investment, these investors will collectively hold a majority of equity stake in Baidu FSG. Baidu FSG will operate independently from Baidu and will enter into business cooperation arrangements with Baidu. The definitive transaction agreements were signed in April 2018 and the deal is expected to close later this year.
Partners Fang Liu (Hong Kong) and Terence Foo (China) jointly led the two transactions, and were supported by partner Zhang Hong, senior associate Maureen Ho and associate Ethan Ying on the Ant Financial deal, and by senior associates Brian Harley and Jay Liang on the Baidu FSG deal.
“We are extremely pleased to advise Carlyle on these two landmark transactions involving China’s most prominent fintech players, which once again demonstrated our in-depth expertise in the dynamic fintech industry,” said Fang.
ENDS
Clifford Chance is one of the world’s pre-eminent law firms with significant depth and range of resources across five continents. As a single, fully integrated, global partnership, we pride ourselves on our approachable, collegiate and team based way of working. We always strive to exceed the expectations of our clients, which include corporates from all the commercial and industrial sectors, governments, regulators, trade bodies and not for profit organisations. We provide them with the highest quality advice and legal insight, which combines the firm’s global standards with in-depth local expertise.
For further information, or to speak with Fang Liu or Terence Foo please contact:
Kane Dowsett
Brand, Communications and Marketing Manager, Asia Pacific
Clifford Chance
27/F Jardine House, One Connaught Place, Hong Kong
Switchboard: +852 2825 8888
Direct: +852 2825 8063
Mobile: +852 67 929 149
[email protected]