Capital markets lawyer Michael Yu has joined Cooley as a partner based in Hong Kong, where he will team with leading Hong Kong corporate lawyer Will Cai and others. Yu arrives from Sidley Austin.
“Michael has a stellar reputation and brings to Cooley a deep technical knowledge of Hong Kong IPOs and other capital markets transactions,” said Dave Peinsipp, co-head of Cooley’s global capital markets practice alongside Charlie Kim. “His strengths add to our robust, firmwide capital markets team and burgeoning Hong Kong office.”
“Michael and Will are a formidable team, giving us the ability to advise companies looking to engage in transactions in Hong Kong and the United States at the highest levels,” said Kim. “Michael also has deep life sciences experience, including working on the first pre-revenue biotech company IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last year, following the relaxing of listing requirements there.”
Yu’s practice focuses on Hong Kong initial public offerings, as well as other capital markets transactions, pre-IPO investments, public takeovers and securities regulation compliance. During the course of his career, he has worked at firms with industry-leading Hong Kong capital markets practices, spending extensive time as issuer, sponsor and underwriter counsel, as well as gaining deep regulatory experience with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.
Yu, who speaks native Mandarin, is Hong Kong and New York qualified. He graduated from Peking University Law School and New York University School of Law.
“As a world-renowned capital markets powerhouse with a firm commitment to expanding its Asia-Pacific presence, Cooley is an excellent fit for my practice,” said Yu. “I look forward to contributing to the global capital markets group’s continued achievement and helping to build out the Asia capital markets practice.”
Following on the success of Cooley’s Shanghai and Beijing offices, which opened in 2011 and 2018, respectively, the firm expanded in the Asia-Pacific region by launching in Hong Kong. Last month, the Law Society of Hong Kong approved Cooley HK as a registered foreign law firm and its entry into an association with Cai, Lee & Partners. Yu will also become a partner of Cai, Lee & Partners.
Cooley is one of the world’s top firms working on global capital markets transactions for non-US issuers. The firm represents some of Asia’s most innovative and dynamic technology and life sciences companies, advising on their financing, joint venture and other strategic transactions. In addition, Cooley has helped more than 80 fund managers form 100+ Chinese venture capital and private equity funds. It was named Investment Funds International Firm of the Year at the China Law & Practice Awards and has been broadly recognized for its strong technology, life sciences and VC practices. Cooley is the #1 law firm for advising VC-backed companies going public for the last 15 years and represents 6,000+ private companies and 1,200+ publicly traded companies.
Source: www.cooley.com
