Saturday, November 9, 2024

Trio acts on two UK deals by HK tycoon’s infrastructure unit

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HK tycoon’s infrastructure unit

Latham & Watkins, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Ashurst have advised CK Infrastructure Holdings (CKI), an arm of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka Shing’s business, on two UK transactions.

The Hong Kong-listed CKI completed a secondary listing of issued shares in the first such debut under the London Stock Exchange’s new listing rules. Latham & Watkins acted as US counsel to the issuer, while Freshfields’ Hong Kong partner, Grace Huang, advised on Hong Kong law. Linklaters advised the underwriter, HSBC.

Last month, the UK financial regulator approved the LSE’s largest reform in nearly 30 years, one of which allowed non-UK incorporated companies with an overseas listing status to pursue a secondary listing in specific categories within the London bourse.

CKI said the London listing would benefit its geographically diverse shareholders, enhance its corporate image and broaden the share trading market, as the UK was the group’s largest market.

In addition, Ashurst represented a consortium comprising CKI, its subsidiary Power Assets and CK Assist in the acquisition of Aviva Investors’ UK wind farm for GBP350 million (USD453.7 million), set for completion in late September. The portfolio includes 32 onshore wind farms with a combined capacity of 175MW.

Partners Jason Radford and Jacob Gold led the team with support from partner Chin Yeoh. Partners Antony Skinner, Jamie Chapman, Eleanor Reeves, Charlie Reid, Neil Cuninghame, Nicholas Gardner, Sunny Kumar and Tim Rennie counselled on energy transactions, real estate, competition, taxation, IP and loan matters.

In April and May, the consortium acquired Phoenix Energy, the largest gas distribution network in Northern Ireland, for GBP757 million, and Powerlink Renewable Assets, a portfolio of renewable energy assets in the UK, for GBP90.8 million.

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