Linklaters has advised Harvest Global Investments (HGI) on the successful issuance of its tokenised fund in Hong Kong. This marks the first fixed-income tokenised fund by a Chinese financial institution in Hong Kong.
The offering is managed by HGI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvest Fund Management Co., Ltd, with the tokenisation solution provided by Meta Lab HK, a fintech start-up backed by Harvest Digital Assets. This successful issuance represents a significant development in the blockchain-based digital investment landscape in Hong Kong and the broader Asia region.
Linklaters provided advice on a wide spectrum of Hong Kong legal and regulatory issues with respect to the tokenisation arrangement as well as the transaction documents for offering the tokenised fund.
The transaction was led by Linklaters partner Chin-Chong Liew and capital markets partner Ying Zhou from Zhao Sheng Law Firm, Linklaters’ joint operation partner in China, supported by financial regulation partner Kishore Bhindi and TMT counsel Albert Yuen.
Linklaters’ Asia Head of Structured Finance and Derivatives Chin-Chong Liew commented:
“We are delighted to have supported HGI on this pioneering tokenised fund launch which bolsters Hong Kong’s position as an Asian, and global, crypto hub. Our team of innovative and commercially sound lawyers regularly advises on first-to-market transactions and we look forward to supporting our clients on novel developments in the financial markets.”
The Linklaters Asia team recently advised on the first tokenised structured notes on a public blockchain in Hong Kong SAR as well as the inaugural tokenised green bond by the Hong Kong SAR Government. The firm also recently advised Euroclear Bank on the establishment and the launch of its new Digital Securities Platform and the inaugural digital securities issuance by the World Bank, as well as the European Investment Bank on the issuance of its first ever notes in digital form on the Ethereum public blockchain.
