31 March 2021
Davis Polk advised the underwriters on the secondary listing and initial public offering of Baidu, Inc. on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The gross proceeds from the global offering amounted to approximately HK$23.9 billion (US$3.1 billion) prior to the exercise of the over-allotment option.
Baidu is a leading AI company with a strong Internet foundation. Founded in 2000 as a search engine platform, Baidu has been investing in AI since 2010 to improve search and ad monetization, and have used “Baidu Brain”, its core AI technology engine to develop new AI businesses. Baidu’s ADSs trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “BIDU”. Currently, each ADS represents eight Class A ordinary shares.
The Davis Polk corporate team included partners Li He, James C. Lin and Yang Chu, counsel – registered foreign lawyer Kevin Zhang, counsel Kai Sun, associate Cathy Yuen and registered foreign lawyer Jennifer (Yujia) Jiang and Eva Xu. Counsel Alon Gurfinkel and associate Omer Harel provided tax advice. Members of the Davis Polk team are based in the Hong Kong and London offices.
