A Weil team is advising Baring Private Equity Asia as a member of a consortium led by Giant Interactive Group’s Chairman Yuzhu Shi that has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Giant Interactive Group, China’s leading online game developer and operator listed on the NYSE. Giant Interactive is one of the largest US-listed Chinese companies to be taken private with a total deal value of approximately $3 billion. The transaction will be financed in part with debt to be underwritten or arranged by an international banking syndicate.
Giant Interactive Group focuses on massively multiplayer online role playing games. Currently, Giant operates multiple games, including the ZT Online 1 Series, ZT Online 2, Elsword, and World of Xianxia.
The Weil team on this transaction was led by Akiko Mikumo and M&A associates William Welty, Erika Evasdottir and Jeremiah Phillips and Banking & Finance partner Soo-Jin Shim and associates Eugene C. Kim and Emma Rubin. All are based in Weil’s Hong Kong office.
