Appleby acted as Bermuda counsel to CITIC 21CN Company Limited (the Company) on Alibaba Holding’s subscription of approximately 4.4 billion ordinary shares of the Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Perfect Advance Holding Limited (the Investor). After the subscription, the Investor (together with parties acting in concert with it) holds approximately 54% of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company. Net proceeds of approximately HK$1.32 billion from the subscription will be used for future expansion and/or acquisition opportunities.
The Appleby team was led by Judy Lee, a corporate partner in the Hong Kong office, assisted by associate Vincent Chan, with Berwin Leighton Paisner acting for the Company and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acting for the Investor as to Hong Kong laws.
The Company’s shares soared 372% at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 17 January 2014 to close at HK$3.92 on the first day of trading after the purchase was announced. CITIC 21CN is an investment holding company incorporated in Bermuda with shares listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (stock code: 241). The company’s subsidiaries are principally engaged in system integration and software development, as well as telecom value added services and the drug PIATS business.
Alibaba Group, whose shareholders include SoftBank Corp and Yahoo! Inc., is a family of internet-based businesses with a mission to make it easy for anyone to buy or sell goods and services anywhere in the world and one of the titans in China’s e-commerce industry.
