LawFuel.com – Commercial Law Newswire – Leading private equity-invested Chinese children’s clothing producer and retailer makes HK debut
Hong Kong – Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Orrick) has advised Boshiwa International Holding Ltd. (Boshiwa) on a HK$2.49 billion (US$320 million) initial public offering on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with a Rule 144A/Regulation S placement to global investors. The offering, which took place on September 29, 2010, was jointly underwritten by UBS AG, Credit Suisse, BOCOM International and Deutsche Bank.
A team of Hong Kong and U.S. capital markets lawyers from Orrick’s Hong Kong and China offices, led by partners Edwin Luk and Allen Shyu, advised on the global offering.
Boshiwa, which literally translated means “Dr Frog” in Chinese, is a fast-growing Shanghai-based company that designs, makes and sells children’s products including clothes, footwear and accessories. The company, which ranked first in terms of total revenue in the mid to high end children’s product market in China in 2009*, has an extensive retail network, with more than 1,000 department store concessions throughout China. Boshiwa also has various licensing agreements in China with globally known brands that are based on various popular movies, animations and sports events including Harry Potter, Bob the Builder, Thomas and Friends, Prince of Tennis, the NBA, Barcelona and Manchester United.
Private equity fund Trust Bridge Partners provided pre-IPO financing to Boshiwa.
Edwin Luk, Orrick’s Asia Corporate Group leader and Hong Kong partner, commented: “We are very pleased that Boshiwa’s global offering has been so well received in the market, showing that investor appetite is strong for Chinese companies with a solid consumer industry track record.”
He added: “Our China capital markets team has many years of experience in advising private equity-invested Chinese companies in their exits via listings in Hong Kong, New York and London. As the markets continue to improve, we expect to see more Chinese companies with similar profiles as Boshiwa, which is private equity invested and in the Chinese consumer industry, tap the capital markets in Hong Kong.”
According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the PRC had over 250 million children under 14 years of age in 2009, representing the world’s second largest children consumer group. As China’s average annual household expenditure on children’s products continues to increase, Boshiwa plans to use the proceeds to expand its retail network, promote its brands and establish a research and development centre for children’s clothing.
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About Orrick
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is a global law firm with more than 1,100 lawyers in 22 offices in North America, Europe and Asia. The firm focuses on litigation, complex and novel finance and innovative corporate transactions. Orrick’s clients include Fortune 100 companies, major industrial and financial corporations, commercial and investment banks, high-growth companies, governmental entities, start-ups and individuals.
Orrick’s Greater China team of over 90 legal professionals in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai has an almost 40 year track record in advising Chinese and international clients on domestic and cross-border matters including mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investment, securities offerings, private equity, investment funds, securitization and structured finance, real estate finance and development, project finance, litigation and arbitration, intellectual property, restructuring, competition and antitrust law.
