Morrison & Foerster advised Dalian Port (PDA) Company Limited (“Dalian Port”), long-standing client of the firm, on a RMB400 million 5.8% RMB bond offering due 2014 by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Asia Pacific Ports Development Company Limited. The Bonds were guaranteed by another wholly-owned subsidiary, Asia Pacific Ports Company, and had the benefit of a keepwell support arrangement from Dalian Port.  Bank of Communications, BNP Paribas, CCBI, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch International, and UBS acted as the Joint Lead Managers.

The dispute was between Softbank Corporation, Yahoo! Inc and the founder shareholders of the Alibaba Group over Alipay.com Co., Ltd. (“Alipay”), an electronic payment system in China.

The law firm of Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP is pleased to announce that Eugene Lai has joined the firm as a partner. Lai will base his practice in Edwards Wildman’s associated Hong Kong office, Lister Lo Lui & Choy.

Blank Rome is pleased to announce that Ronald Sum has joined Blank Rome Solicitors in Hong Kong as Partner. He will be affiliated with the Firm’s International and Maritime Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution group.  Mr. Sum has practiced law in Hong Kong for more than 15 years and has conducted court proceedings on a global scale. He has litigation, arbitration, and mediation experience in Hong Kong, England, and the United States.

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised a subsidiary of NWS Holdings Limited on its acquisition of 26.32% of Chinese Future Corporation (CFC) for US$280 million.

O’Melveny & Myers LLP represented Asia Cement (China) Holdings Corporation on its offering of RMB 586 million (US$92 million) principal amount of 2.95 percent notes due in 2014. The offering was made to offshore institutional investors in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia.

Global law firm White & Case LLP advised Groupe Auchan on the restructuring of its joint venture with the Taiwanese conglomerate Ruentex, leading to Groupe Auchan’s acquisition of a majority stake in Sun Art Retail Group Limited (formerly Sun Holdings), involving inter alia merger control procedures in China, and on the IPO of Sun Art Retail Group Limited on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Herbert Smith has recently advised Citigroup Global Markets Asia Limited and DBS Asia Capital Limited as the joint global coordinators on the HK$1.15 billion (US$148 million) listing of Hongguo International Holdings Limited (“Hongguo”) on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Rule 144A/Regulation S global offering.

Global law firm White & Case LLP has represented China Development Bank (CDB) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) with respect to their participation in the USD 800 million senior secured term loan facility and the SAR 3.969 billion (approximately equivalent to USD 1.06 billion) advance payment guarantee facility which, together, make up project facilities supporting Saudi Oger Ltd’s financing of the King Abdullah Project 2, which the company is completing for the Saudi Ministry of Interior in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Orrick) has advised POSCO Canada Ltd. (POSCAN) on two strategic investments that will secure the future development of lithium and other minerals in Central America. POSCAN is a wholly owned subsidiary of POSCO Corporation, the third-largest steelmaker in the world by market value (and the largest in South Korea) and the most profitable in Asia.