Baker McKenzie acts on four inaugural global depositary receipts listings on SIX Swiss Exchange under China-Switzerland Stock Connect

Baker McKenzie has acted as legal advisor on the successful offering and listings of Global Depositary Receipts (GDR) on SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX) of four Chinese companies — GEM Co., Ltd., Gotion High-tech Co., Ltd., Keda Industrial Group Co., Ltd. and Ningbo Shanshan Co., Ltd. The four companies are the first to issue GDR in the Swiss capital market through the China-Switzerland Stock Connect, after China Securities Regulatory Commission reformed the Stock Connect scheme and the Swiss regulators recently finalized the revised SIX listing rules in late July 2022.

Baker McKenzie fielded a cross-border team from China, Zurich and London to provide seamless, comprehensive advice in the four landmark transactions.

The China team was led by Partners Christina Lee and Wang Hang with support from Partner Thomas Tarala, Special Counsel Janice Wong, Rachel Wang and Bonnie Lau and Associates Sophie Fu, Daisy Chen and Isabella Wong of Baker McKenzie, as well as Senior Counsel Stella Hu of FenXun, Baker McKenzie's joint operation platform partner firm in China.

The Zurich team was led by Partner Matthias Courvoisier with support from Associates Yves Mauchle and Jan Lusti.

The London team was led by Partners Adam Farlow and Simon Porter with support from Associates James Tanner and Adam Gardener.

Commenting on the transactions, Christina Lee (Hong Kong SAR) said: "We are honored to be given the opportunity to assist our clients on these landmark transactions. We very much enjoyed working with them having different roles in these projects - issuer, underwriter or depositary bank. This and our engagement in the prior London GDR issuances enabled us to maximize the benefits for our clients working with us."

Wang Hang (Beijing) added: "We are very pleased to be involved in the first four GDR offerings by Chinese companies under the China-Switzerland Stock Connect Framework. As always, it was a great experience to work with our Swiss and London colleagues who both built strong capital market outfits in Europe. Their passion for developing new products helped to create a smooth and secure avenue for our clients to tap into the new Swiss GDR market. ."

Matthias Courvoisier (Zurich) said: "The China-Switzerland Stock Connect Framework has received strong market interest, with a solid pipeline of companies looking to list under the new regime. We keep on talking to our clients and other interested parties about the benefits of a GDR listing in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe. These discussions, we hold together with our Chinese colleagues, build on a very strong fundament of an excellent capital markets team in China that enables efficient and effective work for our clients."

Details of the transactions are set out below: