5 August, 2020
Skadden advised Hong Kong-listed E-House China Holdings Limited in a series of agreements with Sina.com and its affiliated entity; Mr. Zhou Xin, executive chairman of Leju Holdings Limited and certain of his affiliated entities; and Alibaba Group Holding Limited.
Pursuant to the agreements with Sina.com, Mr. Zhou Xin and their affiliated entities, and subject to certain closing conditions, E-House will acquire a majority interest in Nasdaq-listed Leju Holdings.
E-House has also entered into a business cooperation agreement with Alibaba Group, pursuant to which, the two parties will cooperate in areas including online-offline real estate transaction, digital marketing and after-sale services with the goal of enhancing the digital and intellectual capabilities of the real estate service industry. Alibaba Group has also signed a share subscription agreement to invest in E-House, and has subscribed for a HK$ 1.03 billion note, convertible to a further equity interest in E-House.
The transactions contemplated by the agreements have an aggregate value of US$ 532 million, excluding the proposed joint venture between E-House and Alibaba Group, which has a prospective value of RMB 5 billion (approximately US$ 717 million).
The Skadden team was led by partner Christopher Betts, with associates Martina To and Paul Lau. All attorneys are based in Hong Kong.
