Benita Yu

Benita is the Senior Partner of our Hong Kong office. She is one of the industry’s leading corporate lawyers and described by leading legal directories as having “a reputation that is second to none” and an “in-depth understanding of business transactions and commercial operations and (the) ability to keep cooperative relations with other parties."

Over the course of her career, spanning over three decades Benita has represented numerous major corporate clients, PRC state-owned enterprises, international issuers and leading investment banks with their landmark and high profile securities, M&A and corporate finance transactions.  

In a professional capacity, Benita is Deputy Chairman of the Takeovers and Mergers Panel and a member of the Takeovers Appeal Committee of the SFC, a member of the Listing Review Committee of HKEX and was formerly a member of the SFC (HKEC Listing) Committee. She is also the Chairman of the Company Law Interest Group of the Technical Panel, and a fellow of the Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute. She was a member of the Standing Committee on Company Law Reform of the HKSAR Government.

Benita is consistently recognised as a leading lawyer in her field by various legal directories. Her latest accolades include:

• Dealmaker of the Year awarded by both ALB Women in Law Awards in 2023 and the Hong Kong Law Award in 2022;
• one of Asia’s Top 15 M&A Lawyers in 2022 Asian Legal Business;
• one of the Women Leaders in Hong Kong since 2018, and as a Highly Regarded Lawyer for both Capital Markets: Debt, Capital Markets: Equity, as well as M&A in Hong Kong, by IFLR 1000 Asia Pacific in 2023;
• one of the world's leading female practitioners for Capital Markets in the Women in Business Law guide 2022;
• one of the Top 10 Most Influential M&A Lawyers in China by Business Today Lawyer Awards 2023;
• a Leading Professional for M&A and Corporate Governance in Who's Who Legal since 2016, for Capital Markets since 2018 and a Top Lawyer in Hong Kong SAR in 2023;
• named in the 2024 Legal 500 Asia Pacific Hall of Fame (top tier) for Capital Markets (Equity) in Hong Kong;
• a Band 1 lawyer in Corporate/M&A: Hong Kong-based (International Firms), China and a Leading Lawyer for Capital Markets: Equity (International Firms), China in 2024 Chambers Greater China.

Benita read law at Oxford University. She is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales and Hong Kong, and speaks fluent English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

IPOs

• Recently advising on the Hong Kong listing of: 
• SenseTime, the largest AI software company in Asia in terms of revenue in 2020
• Dmall, a SaaS solution provider in the PRC local retail industry and the largest retail cloud solution provider in the PRC by gross merchandise value (listing application filed)
• Zhubajie, a major costomised enterprise services e-commerce platform in China (listing application filed)
• Advising on the Hong Kong listings of:
• Agile Property, Alibaba.com, Aluminum Corporation of China, Bank of Communications, China Eastern Airlines, China Hengshi Foundation Company, China Pacific Insurance, China Telecom, China Reinsurance, China Resources Peoples Telephone, China Resources Power, China Unicom, CNBM, Datang International Power Generation, Dongfeng Motor, EC Healthcare (formerly named Union Medical Healthcare), Fosun International, Golden Throat, Huaneng International Power, Kintor Pharmaceutical, KWG Property, Metallurgical Corporation of China, New China Life Insurance, PICC, PRADA S.p.A., Prudential, Samson Holding, SenseTime, Shanghai Forte Land, SinoMedia, Sinopec, SMIC, TOM Group, Yancoal Australia, YiChang HEC ChangJiang Pharmaceutical

Public takeovers

• Advising on the privatisations of:

• Sinosoft by Worth Glory (ongoing), Weiqiao Textile by Weiqiao Textile Technology, IMAX China by IMAX Corporation, Dali Foods by Rongshi, China VAST by China Jingmao, Xiamen International Port by Xiamen Port, Guodian Technology by China Energy, Dragon Crown by Guangdong Great River, Beijing Capital Land by Beijing Capital Group, Alibaba.com by Alibaba Group, I.T by a CVC consortium, Huifu Payment by Purity Investment, Changshouhua Food by Shandong Sanxing, Huadian Fuxin Energy by China Huadian, China National Materials (Sinoma) by China National Building Material Group (CNBM), China Agri-Industries by COFCO Hong Kong, China Power Clean Energy by China Power New Energy, Intime Retail by Alibaba, Yingde Gases by PAG Asia Capital, Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties by consortium of 19 investors, Chinalco Mining by Aluminum Corporation of China Overseas, Zhengzhou China Resources Gas by China Resources Gas, Guoco proposed by GuoLine Overseas, Little Sheep by Yum! Brands.

• Other public takeovers and Takeover Code related transactions include advising: 
• AsiaInfo Security in its acquisition of shares in AsiaInfo Technology
• Bank of America in its proposed sale of its controlling stake in Vinda under a USD3.35 billion voluntary cash offer from the RGE Group
• CICC, as FA on (1) SAIC Motor’s USD336 million acquisition of Shanghai Dongzheng Automotive Finance and the resulting mandatory general offer, and (2) Boyu’s voluntary general offer for Jinke Property Smart Services
• Honghua on its proposed US$ 130m share issue to Dongfang Electric and China Chengtong and whitewash waiver from SFC
• S.F. on its US$2.3bn partial offer to acquire a controlling stake in Kerry Logistics
• Alibaba:

• on its US$3.6bn acquisition of a controlling stake in Sun Art and the resulting US$2.2bn mandatory general offer
• on its US$2.88bn acquisition of an economic interest in Sun Art and the resulting US$1.7bn mandatory general offer
• on its acquisition of shares and convertible bonds in Intime Retail and the setting up of a US$690m joint venture together with its whitewash waiver applications

• OOIL on the voluntary general offer by Faulkner Global (subsidiary of COSCO Shipping) together with Shanghai Port to acquire all the issued shares in OOIL
• Great Wall Pan Asia Investment on the acquisition of the issued share capital of Armada (formerly SCMP) from Kerry Media and its related parties and the resulting mandatory general offer
• China Power New Energy (CPNE) and China Power Clean Energy (CPCE) on the redomiciliation of the holding company of the listed group, from Bermuda-incorporated CPNE to Hong Kong-incorporated CPCE
• China Resources on its US$3.58bn acquisition of all the non-beer business segments of China Resources Enterprise (CRE) and its partial offer for CRE shares

Other M&A deals/Private Investments in Public Equity

• Advising:
• Alibaba on its:

• strategic cooperation, and the reorganisation of its joint venture, with E-House
• HK$2.06bn acquisition of SCMP Group
• injection of its Online Movie Ticketing and Yulebao businesses into Alibaba Pictures

• US$630m investment in Red Star Macalline, a leading furniture retail platform and shopping centre operator in China
• investment in CICC
• cornerstone investment in the initial public offering and listing on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange of Fosun Tourism and E-House
• subscription for new shares in Alibaba Pictures

• CICC as financial adviser to China Jinmao on the acquisition of existing shares and convertible bonds in China VAST Industrial Urban Development
• Union Medical Healthcare on its issue of convertible bonds and warrants to Goldman Sachs and OrbiMed and convertible bonds to Gaw Capital
• SMIC on the strategic investments by Datang Technology and China IC Fund

Recent block trades and secondary placings

• Advising:
• China Power International on its US$501million top-up placing
• Alibaba Health Information Technology on its HK$10bn primary placing
• Orient Overseas in relation to:

• its US$450m top-up placing of existing shares of its issued share capital
• its top-up placing of existing shares and top-up subscription by the controlling shareholder of new shares for US$120m

• Kingdee International Software on its US$306m placing
• the placing agents, on the:

• secondary block trade by a controlling shareholder of Bosideng (US$115m)
• new share placing by Haichang Ocean Park (US$40m)
• new H shares placing by Xinte Energy Co., Ltd. (US$130m)
• new shares placing by China Modern Dairy (US$200m)
• top up placing by JS Global Lifestyle (US$140m)
• placing of new ordinary shares in China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare (US$130m)

Corporate governance

Advising numerous listed corporate clients on general corporate governance and compliance, with relationships extending over decades.