Baker McKenzie has advised Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (“Wolverine”) on the sale of the Hush Puppies trademarks, patents, copyrights and domains in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to Beijing Jiaman Dress Co., Ltd. (“Jiaman”).
As part of the transaction, Wolverine and Jiaman entered into a license and cooperation agreement providing for mutual engagement and brand stewardship of the Hush Puppies brand in the region. Meanwhile, Wolverine will continue to own and operate the Hush Puppies brand throughout the rest of the world. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Baker McKenzie fielded a cross-practice team, which was led by M&A Partner Tracy Wut and supported by Senior Associate Angie Yeung and Associate Felix Liang* from the M&A team. Other team members involved were Special Counsel Bertha Ho, who advised on the intellectual property aspects of the transaction, while Partner Luis Zhang from FenXun** in Shanghai advised on the tax aspects in relation to the transaction.
Commenting on the deal, Tracy Wut, who leads the M&A practice in Hong Kong and is also the managing partner for Baker McKenzie’s Hong Kong and Mainland China offices, said: “This transaction represents an important milestone in Wolverine’s ongoing journey to transform its brand portfolio. We couldn’t be more pleased to be able to assist our long-standing client on this strategic transaction, which exemplifies Baker McKenzie’s strengths in offering holistic transactional and advisory legal solutions that help clients achieve their commercial goals.”
For further details about the transaction, please refer to Wolverine’s press release.
*Registered Foreign Lawyer (Associate equivalent)
** FenXun Partners, Baker McKenzie’s Joint Operation platform partner in China