19 December, 2015
Shearman & Sterling is advising the Independent Committee of the Board of Directors of Bona Film Group Limited (“Bona Film”) in connection with the approximately US$1 billion buyout transaction.
The buyer group includes affiliates of the high profile Chinese internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., as well as private equity investors Sequoia Capital China l, L.P. and its affiliated funds and SAIF Partners lV L.P. etc. The deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2016, subject to customary closing conditions.
Bona Film, a leading film distributor in China, invests and produces movies in a variety of genres, owns and operates thirty movie theaters and manages a number of talented and popular Chinese artists. Its film distribution spans across the globe, covering Greater China, Korea, Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe.
Over the past year, Shearman & Sterling has established a strong presence in public M&A, having advised on various notable and complex Hong Kong and U.S. transactions involving Chinese companies. The firm has extensive experience representing buyer groups, independent and special committees, private equity firms and financial advisors in buyout transactions involving U.S.-listed Chinese companies. Other recent representations include Mindray Medical International Limited, Momo Inc., E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc., China Cord Blood Corporation, iDreamSky Technology Limited., Taomee Holdings Limited, China Nepstar Chain Drugstore Ltd., Jiayuan.com International Limited, and 21Vianet Group, Inc. etc.
The Shearman & Sterling team is led by partner Stephanie Tang (Hong Kong-M&A) and included partners Larry Crouch (Menlo Park-Tax), Richard Hsu (Menlo Park-Intellectual Property), Stephen Hibbard (San Francisco-Litigation), counsel Daniel Stellenberg (Menlo Park-Compensation, Governance & ERISA) and associates Richard Ou, Shan Wu, Weina Guan, Jenny Fan (Beijing-M&A), Kyle Philips (Menlo Park-Tax), and Benjamin Peterson (Menlo Park-Intellectual Property).
