Baker McKenzie has acted as the Hong Kong and US legal advisers to Ferretti S.p.A. ("Ferretti") on the approximately HKD1.9 billion global offering and listing of its shares on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which commence trading today.
Ferretti is the first overseas company to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the new listing regime for overseas companies with effect from 1 January 2022. It is the first European-incorporated company to successfully list in Hong Kong in the last decade. Ferretti is also the first luxury yacht company to make its debut in the Asian capital market with firm support from reputational European and PRC shareholders.
Ferretti is an established leader in the global luxury yacht industry, with a portfolio of iconic brands with a long heritage and outstanding high-end manufacturing capabilities. As one of the oldest Italian luxury yacht producers, Ferretti has been playing an important role in steering the development of the global luxury yacht industry by acquiring and integrating other leading yacht brands and production facilities since the establishment of its business in 1968.
The Baker McKenzie team was led by partners Wang Hang in Beijing and Adam Farlow in London, with the support also of Marco Marazzi in Milan. They were assisted by a cross-office team of lawyers, including Senior Counsel Stella Hu and Counsels Yolanda Zheng and Michael Lian in the International Capital Markets team of FenXun Partners, Baker McKenzie's joint operation platform partner in China; as well as associates Daisy Chen (Shanghai) and Clara Kwan and Benjamin Cheung (Hong Kong SAR) in Baker McKenzie's Capital Markets team.
Commenting on the transaction, Wang Hang said, "We are honored to have been able to play a part in our client's strategic growth story and assist them in capitalizing on new fundraising opportunities in the market. This market-first transaction not only demonstrates the depth and breadth of our knowledge and capabilities in capital markets transactions, but also our ability to offer clients a globally connected, one-stop shop solution."
Adam Farlow added, "Following our involvement in advising China Pacific Insurance (Group) on its GDR offering and successful London listing under the Shanghai-London Stock Connect scheme, this transaction represents another success story where we assisted our client from another continent to list in Asia, a true testimony of our Firm's competitive strength to bridge capital markets across continents and borders."
Marco Marazzi said: "This is a good story of an iconic Italian business, which has benefited from Chinese investment, going public in one of the world's leading international capital markets in the past 10 years."
China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited (CICC) acted as the sole sponsor and sole global coordinator, while CICC, BNP Paribas Securities (Asia) Limited and Zhongtai International Securities Limited acted as the joint bookrunners and joint lead managers in the transaction.