Slaughter and May advised Citi and BofA on a US$1.5bn secondary block trade of Kingboard Laminates shares

Slaughter and May, Hong Kong, advised Citigroup Global Markets Limited (“Citi”) and Merrill Lynch (Asia Pacific) Limited (“BofA” and, together with Citi, the “Managers”) as joint bookrunners and placing agents on a secondary placing of 155,000,000 existing shares of Kingboard Laminates Holdings Limited (“Kingboard Laminates”) by Kingboard Investments Limited (the “Seller”). The placing (the “Secondary Placing”) was announced on 17 June 2026 and completed on 22 June 2026, raising approximately HK$11.8bn (approximately US$1.5bn) for the Seller and representing approximately 4.92% of Kingboard Laminates’ total issued shares.

Kingboard Laminates is a leading vertically-integrated electronic materials manufacturer specialising in the production of laminates and has been listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKEX: 1888) since 2006.

The Seller is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Kingboard Holdings Limited (“KHL”) (HKEX: 148), which is the controlling shareholder of Kingboard Laminates, holding approximately 66.62% of the total issued share capital of Kingboard Laminates prior to the Secondary Placing and approximately 61.70% immediately upon completion of the Secondary Placing. The net proceeds of the Secondary Placing will be used to fund investments in KHL’s PCB business, expand production capacity, accelerate R&D initiatives, repay existing bank loans and for other corporate purposes.

The Secondary Placing followed a related placing by KHL in March 2026 of 130,000,000 existing shares of Kingboard Laminates, raising HK$2.73bn (approximately US$350mn), on which Slaughter and May, Hong Kong, represented Citi, as placing agent.

Citi is a licensed corporation under the SFO licensed to carry out Type 1 (dealing in securities), Type 2 (dealing in futures contracts), Type 4 (advising on securities), Type 5 (advising on futures contracts), Type 6 (advising on corporate finance) and Type 7 (providing automated trading services) regulated activities.

BofA is a licensed corporation under the SFO licensed to carry out Type 1 (dealing in securities), Type 4 (advising on securities), Type 5 (advising on futures contracts) and Type 6 (advising on corporate finance) regulated activities.

Partner, John Moore, commented: “We are pleased to have advised Citi and BofA on this transaction and to be working with the Kingboard group once again. We extend our congratulations to Citi, BofA and the Kingboard group on the successful completion of this significant block trade.”