By King & Wood Mallesons
Acting as PRC and international counsel, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) advised Bank of Zhengzhou Co., Ltd. (Bank of Zhengzhou, Stock Code: 6196) on its issuance of US$1.191billion 5.50% non-cumulative perpetual offshore preference shares on 18 October 2017. Such preference shares are Bank of Zhengzhou’s additional tier 1 (AT1) capital, and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
This is the first offshore preference shares offering where KWM acted as PRC and international counsel to a Chinese bank issuer, providing one-stop legal services. The transaction demonstrates KWM’s capability to provide seamless onshore and offshore services in capital market transactions, in particular in executing complex hybrid securities offerings.
Bank of Zhengzhou is a fast-growing city commercial bank in China in terms of the growth in its total assets and net profit. According to the 2016 PRC commercial banks competitiveness ranking published by The Banker magazine, Bank of Zhengzhou ranked the 2nd among all city commercial banks with assets of RMB200-300 billion.
The project is advised by KWM Beijing partners Su Zheng and Li Yuanyuan as PRC counsel to Bank of Zhengzhou, partner Christine Chen as international counsel, and Hong Kong partner Candy Chan on the Hong Kong listing rules.