Emily Wu
Registered Foreign Lawyer
Capital Markets
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
Overview
Emily is a corporate registered foreign lawyer in our Hong Kong office. She focuses her practices on capital markets, in particular, initial public offerings in the United States and Hong Kong, SPAC/De-SPAC related transactions, and SEC compliance.
Experience
Representative Matters
Since joining Kirkland, Emily has represented the following:
- ZG Group, a leading iron & steel e-commerce platform in China, on its business combination with Aquila Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company. The negotiated value of ZG Group in this transaction is HK$10,004,000,000, and the committed PIPE investment as of the signing date is approximately HK$605 million. This is the first de-SPAC transaction in Hong Kong since the introduction of the SPAC listing regime in Hong Kong on 1 January 2022
- Certain affiliates of Bain Capital on the proposed US$3.16 billion take-private of Chindata Group Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: CD), a leading carrier-neutral hyperscale data center solution provider in Asia-Pacific emerging markets
- ADICON Holdings Limited (“ADICON”) (HKSE: 9860) on its initial public offering and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 30, 2023. ADICON owns and operates more than 30 diagnostic laboratories in China that offer health care testing services
- Legend Capital in the secondary offering of American depositary shares (“ADSs”) of Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited (“Atour”) (NASDAQ: ATAT), a leading hospitality and lifestyle company in China. Legend Capital is the major shareholder of Atour. This sale of the ADSs by Legend Capital is the first large secondary offering of a Chinese listed company in the U.S. capital market in 2023
- The joint sponsors and underwriters on the global offering and listing of STAR CM Holdings Limited (HKSE: 6698) on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on December 29, 2022. STAR CM is the largest variety program IP creator and operator in China in terms of revenue in 2021, owns and operates a large library of Chinese film IPs and is a music IP creator and operator in China
- UBS AG Hong Kong Branch, Morgan Stanley Asia Limited and China International Capital Corporation, as joint financial advisors to ECARX Holdings Inc. (“ECARX”), a global mobility tech company, on the completion of its business combination with COVA Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, on December 20, 2022. The transaction valued ECARX at approximately US$3.82 billion, is the largest de-SPAC merger transaction in China to date, and the largest de-SPAC merger transaction in Asia in 2022
- The underwriters on the initial public offering of 16 million American depositary shares of AMTD Digital Inc., a comprehensive one-stop digital solutions platform in Asia, which raised approximately $124.8 million. The shares commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “HKD” on July 15, 2022
- A consortium of investors, comprising Centurium Capital, PW Medtech Group Limited (HKSE: 1358), CITIC Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Temasek and Marc Chan, in the take-private of China Biologic Products Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBPO), a leading fully integrated plasma-based biopharmaceutical company in China, at a valuation of approximately US$4.6 billion.This transaction was named "Pharmaceuticals, Medical and Biotech M&A Deal of the Year" by Mergermarket China M&A Awards 2021, "2021 Deals of the Year” by China Business Law Journal, “M&A Deal of the Year” by China Law & Practice Awards 2021 and “Private Equity Deal of the Year” by IFLR Asia-Pacific Awards 2022
- Dingdong (Cayman) Limited (NYSE: DDL), a leading and fastest-growing on-demand e-commerce company in China, on its initial public offering of American depositary shares on the New York Stock Exchange
- The sponsors and underwriters on the US$655 million global offering and listing of Nayuki Holdings Limited (HKSE: 2150), a leading premium modern teahouse brand in China, on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited
- The underwriters on the US$75 million initial public offering of American depositary shares on the New York Stock Exchange of First High-School Education Group Co., Ltd. (NYSE: FHS), the largest operator of private high schools in Western China and the third largest operator in China
- Lion Group Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: LGHL), a Hong Kong-based diversified financial services company, in going public in the United States through a business combination with Proficient Alpha Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company listed on Nasdaq
- The underwriters in the US$36.18 million initial public offering and listing on the Nasdaq Global Market of uCloudlink Group Inc., the world’s first and leading mobile data traffic sharing marketplace
- Warburg Pincus in the subscription, together with affiliates of 58.com, TPG and certain other investors, of an aggregate of US$230 million in principal amount of convertible notes from Uxin Limited (Nasdaq: UXIN, “Uxin”), the largest used car e-commerce platform in China
- Mobvista Inc., in its US$171 million initial public offering and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Mobvista Inc. operates a leading technology platform providing mobile advertising and mobile analytics services to the app developers globally
- Opera Limited, one of the world’s leading browser providers, in the US$115.2 million initial public offering and listing on The Nasdaq Stock Market, as well as a concurrent private placement of US$60 million
- RISE Education Cayman Limited, a NASDAQ-listed leading education services company in China and a Bain Capital portfolio company, in a US$103.25 million follow-on public offering of American depositary shares held by Bain Capital and other shareholders
SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) IPOs
- SVF Investment Corp., a special purpose acquisition company backed by SoftBank Investment Advisers, in its NASDAQ IPO that raised US$603 million
- SVF Investment Corp. 2, a special purpose acquisition company backed by SoftBank Investment Advisers, in its NASDAQ IPO that raised US$230 million
- SVF Investment Corp. 3, a special purpose acquisition company backed by SoftBank Investment Advisers, in its NASDAQ IPO that raised US$320 million
- Global Synergy Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company associated with Everstone Group, in its NASDAQ IPO that raised US$258 million
Prior to joining Kirkland, Emily has represented the following:
- The underwriters in the US$761 million global offering and H-share IPO of Bank of Gansu, the only provincial city commercial bank in Gansu province, China, on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
- The underwriters in the US$149 million global offering and IPO of Bestway Global Holding Inc., an outdoor leisure product manufacturer based in China, on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
- The underwriters in the US$491 million global offering and IPO of Crystal International Group Limited, a Hong Kong apparel manufacturer and supplier of leading international fashion brands including Uniqlo and H&M, on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
- Zhongyuan Bank, the largest city commercial bank in Henan province, China, in its US$1.04 billion global offering and H-share IPO on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
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Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2021, Hong Kong, Registered Foreign Lawyer
- 2017, New York
Languages
- English
- Mandarin
Education
- New York University School of LawLL.M.2016
- Beijing Foreign Studies UniversityBachelor of English and Law2015