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Walkers has acted as Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands legal counsel to both the offeror and the lenders in a voluntary cash offer to acquire the entire issued share capital of Clear Media Limited ("Clear Media"), including Clear Channel Outdoor Holding's stake in Clear Media. Clear Media is listed on the mainboard of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and is the largest operator of bus shelter advertising panels in China. The offer was announced on 30 March 2020 with a deal value exceeding HK$3,846 million (US$493million).
The offeror, Ever Harmonic Global Limited ("Ever Harmonic") is wholly owned by a consortium of investors, which comprises of Antfin (Hong Kong) Holding Limited (backed by Ant Financial, Alibaba group's affiliate), JCDecaux Innovate Limited, China Wealth Growth Fund III L.P., and Mr. Han Zi Jing, the current chief executive officer and executive director of Clear Media.
Commenting, Walkers' Hong Kong Office Managing Partner Andy Randall said, "We pride ourselves on delivering high performance multi-jurisdictional legal advice and we are delighted to have advised the offeror and the banks in this transaction. This is testament to the fact that we are only one of the few offshore firms in the region with the depth and expertise to provide seamless Bermuda, BVI and Cayman law advice to help our clients in achieving their business goals."
The lenders, led by CLSA Limited, were advised by Rupen Shah (Partner), Jonathan Betts (Partner) with support from Benjamin Green (Associate). The Walkers team advising Ever Harmonic included Jo Lit (Partner), Natalie Neto (Partner) and Kristen Kwok (Partner) with support from Tiffy Wan (Senior Associate) and Kate Pang (Senior Associate).
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