Alan Wang

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) is advising Huadong Medicine Co Ltd (‘Huadong’), based in Hangzhou, China, on its strategic partnership with listed Heidelberg Pharma AG (‘Heidelberg Pharma’). On 27 February 2022, Huadong, Heidelberg Pharma and its largest shareholder dievini Hopp BioTech holding GmbH & Co. KG (‘dievini’) entered into an investment agreement under which Huadong will participate in a rights issue by Heidelberg Pharma and acquire shares from existing shareholders, including dievini, totalling €105m. A stake of up to 26% in Heidelberg Pharma is to be acquired in a rights issue of up to €80m at an issue price of €6.44 per share. To achieve this percentage, dievini and its affiliates have agreed to transfer their subscription rights to Huadong. In addition, Huadong will acquire all unsubscribed shares from the rights issue. In order to reach 35% of the total issued shares after the rights issue, Huadong will acquire the then remaining number of shares from dievini. The investment agreement is subject to certain closing conditions, including foreign trade clearance and Huadong's exemption from making a mandatory offer under the German Takeover Code. Huadong is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in China focusing on oncology and ADC research, development and commercialisation. The Company is registered on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Heidelberg Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange specialising in oncology and the first company to use and develop the active ingredient Amanitin for cancer therapies. The Freshfields team is led by Partner Sabrina Kulenkamp (Corporate/M&A; Frankfurt) and also comprises Partner Rick van Aerssen (Frankfurt/Düsseldorf; Capital Markets), Principal Associate Timo Piller (Düsseldorf), Associate Velina Ziegler (Frankfurt, both Corporate/M&A), Principal Associates Daniel von Bülow (Frankfurt; Capital Markets) and Jacob Fontaine (Hamburg), Associates Karim Hildenbrand (both Corporate/M&A) and Philipp Simon (IP/IT; both Munich). Counsel Uwe Salaschek and Associate Lara Steinbach (both Berlin) are advising on foreign trade and merger control aspects of the share acquisition. Tax advice is provided by Partner Jan Brinkmann and Counsel Tanja Walter-Yadegardjam (both Frankfurt). Partner Alan Wang (Shanghai), Counsel Ya Ma and Associate Yaming Wu (both Beijing) advise on legal matters relating to China.

Mar 1

2 min

Freshfields is advising Swedish engineering multinational Sandvik AB on its acquisition of DWFritz Automation, Inc., a global provider of precision metrology, inspection and assembly solutions for advanced manufacturing. DWFritz is headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon and has offices in France and China. The transaction was announced July 12, 2021, and is expected to close in the second half of 2021. Terms were not disclosed. Learn more about the transaction here. The Freshfields team is led by New York M&A partner Paul Tiger and associate Victor Ma, with support from associates Tommy Lair and Brayden Koslowsky along the way, and summer associate Casey Hagen. Tax advice was provided by partner Claude Stansbury and associate Brendan Counihan. Partner Lori Goodman and associates Jeff Anand and Lina Zhu are advising on employee benefits and employment matters. Intellectual property matters are being handled by partner Mena Kaplan and associates Marissa Yu and Danny Spencer, with support from paralegal Chelsea Cantos and extern Mili Astesiano. Partner Kyle Lakin and associates Lacey Nemergut and Sarah Al Salem are providing advice on finance. Counsel Peter Jaffe is advising on data privacy matters. Advice on various specialist and local law aspects was provided from our Paris office by partner Gwen Senlanne (employee benefits) and associates Célia Kirren (employee benefits) and Manon Serrus (corporate); our China offices by partners Yuxin Shen (corporate) and Alan Wang (corporate) and associates Fan Li (employee benefits) and Tracy Gu (corporate) and our Germany offices by partners Nicholas Günther (corporate), Christoph Werkmeister (data privacy) and Theresa Ehlen (data privacy) and associate Annabelle Hamelin (data privacy). The regulatory and compliance workstreams, which span multiple countries and regimes, are being led by partners Aimen Mir, Bruce McCulloch, Mary Lehner and Nabeel Youef, special counsel Christine Laciak, counsel Stephanie Brown Cripps, senior associate Ilana Kattan, associate Kat Gross, summer associate Emily Strickland and practice support manager Diane Tuomala. The international team supporting the regulatory and compliance workstream included partner Maria Dreher, senior associate Christopher Wanek and associate Anna Gerstendörfer from our Vienna office; partner Jérôme Philippe, counsel Aude Guyon, associate Alice Cabourdin and intern Basile Marin from our Paris office; partner Hazel Yin, associate Haoyang Zhuo, legal consultants Ethan Qu and Yichen Xing and intern Claire Guan from our China offices and counsel Alexander Viktorov from our Moscow office. ENDS

Jul 12

2 min

Global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised Hasten Biopharmaceuticals on its acquisition of 14 product portfolios from Korean biopharmaceutical company Celltrion Healthcare. Hasten Biopharmaceuticals is a leading specialty pharmaceutical company based in China and a portfolio company of CBC Group, a healthcare-dedicated asset management firm headquartered in Singapore. The Freshfields team advising on the transaction was led by partner Alan Wang and counsel Ya Ma, supported by associates Sunny Min and Yichen Xing. Teams in Europe provided support on IP matters and various commercial agreements, comprised by partners David Brooks and Philipp Dohnke, counsel Philipp Lehman and John Scurr, senior associate Ben Cohen and associate Babak Hakimian.

Jul 11

1 min

Freshfields advised Dalian Wanda Group on the repurchase by Legendary Entertainment of Wanda’s remaining stake in the company. More details about the transaction can be found here. The Freshfields corporate team consisted of partners Alan Wang, Zheng (Jonathan) Zhou and Oliver Board, senior associate Allen Yan and associate Wei Zhang. The Freshfields finance team consisted of partners Kyle Lakin and Daniel French, counsel Celia Zhou, associates Nicholas Mack, Nathalie Leung and Carolina Romero.

Oct 16

1 min

Global law firm Freshfields is advising Kirin Holdings Company Limited (“Kirin Holdings”) and its subsidiary, Kyowa Hakko Bio Co. Ltd. (“Kyowa Hakko Bio”), on the sale of the international business of manufacturing and selling certain amino acids and Human Milk Oligosaccharide (“HMO”) operated by Kyowa Hakko Bio to Meihua Holdings Group Co Ltd, a China-based company principally engaged in the production and distribution of biological fermented products, including amino acid-related products. Kirin Holdings is a Japanese company with a diverse business portfolio that spans food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, and health science. Kyowa Hakko Bio is a leading company in the research, development, and production of innovative bioactive ingredients. The Freshfields team advising on the transaction was led by partners Takeshi Nakao, Gordon Palmquist and Kaori Yamada in Tokyo with support from senior associates Naoki Matsushita, Chiyokazu Shindo and Emily Seo and associates Seira Shin-Clayton, Takahiro Sato, Yusuke Kanbayashi and Shunsuke Fukuda. US Partners Nabeel Yousef, Stephanie Cripps, Aimen Mir, Nicole Foster and Claude Stansbury, senior advisor Brian Reissaus, counsel Jeremiah Nelson, senior associates Noah Lipkowitz and Andrew Leeds, and associates Andrew Gabel and Casey Hagen are providing US law advice. The Freshfields team also includes Hong Kong Partner Richard Bird, Shanghai Partner Alan Wang, Beijing counsel Ya Ma, Singapore Counsel Cedric Lindenmann, London senior associate Joshua Critchlow and Shanghai associate Tracy Gu.

Nov 26

1 min