Clifford Chance has advised Affinity Equity Partners on its US$200 million acquisition of a 94.2 per cent stake in Beijing Leader & Harvest Electric Technologies Co, Ltd.
This is one of the largest private equity buyouts completed in China. The stake was acquired through Leader & Harvest’s offshore holding company.
Affinity Equity Partners is an independent pan-Asia buyout fund manager with a current fund of US$2.8 billion. Leader & Harvest is of one of China’s leading manufacturers of variable frequency drives, a technology which improves the energy efficiency of electric motors and has applications across energy intensive industries in China such as oil and gas, power generation, chemicals, cement, metallurgy, and transportation
“Buyouts in China are notoriously difficult to close, and the Affinity team has done well to complete this landmark deal,” said partner Terence Foo, who led the team advising Affinity.
“Activity in the China private equity market continues to increase post-credit crisis. Whilst most of the activity tends to be minority investments, this transaction will be a reminder that buyout deals are also possible. This is the third successful buyout of a Chinese company that Clifford Chance has closed in recent years.”
The Clifford Chance team was led by private equity partner Terence Foo in Beijing, assisted by senior associate Niao Jiang and associate Zhengjie Xu. Hong Kong consultant Audrey Shum advised on intellectual property aspects of the transaction.
