Kirkland & Ellis, Clifford Chance, and Slaughter and May are counselling parties involved in Silver Pegasus Investment’s HKD8.79 billion (USD1.13 billion) take-private by way of a scheme of arrangement for Hong Kong-listed SciClone Pharmaceuticals.
Silver Pegasus Investment comes under the GL Capital Group, an investment company founded by chairman Jeffrey Li.
Kirkland & Ellis, led by partner Joey Chau, is advising GL Capital Group, with assistance from debt finance partners Jacqueline Zheng and Sean Zhang, and private investment funds partner Jennifer Feng.
Partners Christine Xu and Tommy Tam at Clifford Chance are representing SciClone.
Senior partner Benita Yu is leading the Slaughter and May team acting for CICC, the financial adviser to the offeror, with support from partner Jing Chen.
The HKEX filing shows that SciClone’s operation has been affected by the underperformance of its share price since its IPO on 3 March 2021, and the company plans to increase investment and spending to boost its research and development efforts. Under these circumstances, SciClone and GL Capital Group proposed to privatise the company to generate cash at a premium to the prevailing market price.
The proposal also stated that SciClone expected to see the administrative and management resources needed to maintain its listing reduced after the privatisation.
SciClone, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, is a China biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology and severe infections.
