Jie Jeffrey Sun
Partner
Beijing
Jie (Jeffrey) Sun, a partner in Orrick’s Beijing office, is a member of the Corporate Group. Jeffrey represents Chinese and international clients from multiple industries, including technology, renewable energy, life sciences, financial services and consumer/retail, in a broad range of M&A, capital markets and corporate matters.
Jeffrey has extensive experience representing both Chinese enterprises in fund raising and investing abroad and foreign investors investing in China.
He regularly represents issuers and underwriters in the U.S. and Hong Kong public securities offerings, including initial public offerings (IPOs) and Rule 144A/Regulation S offerings for PRC-based companies.
In addition, he is experienced in handling complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investment, strategic alliances, joint ventures and regulatory compliance matters for numerous foreign investors and Chinese companies. He also counsels global private equity funds on their investment activity throughout Greater China and across Asia.
Some clients he has represented include Bright Food, JD.com, Trina Solar, China Sunergy, Perfect World, ReneSola, Tudou, Pactera Technologies and some international investment banks and private equity funds.
Jeffrey is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer for China M&A by prestigious legal publications such as Chambers Asia, Asia-Pacific Legal 500 and IFLR1000. Clients recognizes him as “an excellent business partner, above his legal counsel role”, who “gives practical advice not only based on legal proficiency, but really helpful for our business”.
Prior to joining Orrick, Mr. Sun worked with a major international law firm, and he was a former partner in a local law firm based in Shanghai.
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Fuwei Films (Holdings) Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: FFHL), in its US$520 million merger with Baijiayun Limited, a video SaaS/PaaS, video cloud and software, video AI and system solution provider.
Betta Games, a Chinese mobile game developer, in its $525 million sale of StarLark Studio to Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA).
JD.com Inc., one of China’s largest B2C online retailers listed on NASDAQ, in connection with:
- its US$397 million investment in Farfetch, a London-based luxury online retailer.
- the strategic alliance with a U.S.-based multinational retail corporation, including its acquisition of Yihaodian marketplace platform assets from corporation with its shares valued at US$1.5 billion.
- its US$306 million investment in Shanghai-based logistics developer ESR.
- the merger of its O2O business JD Daojia with China’s largest crowdsourcing delivery platform Dada Nexus.
- its US$1.55 billion investment in Bitauto Holdings Ltd., a NYSE-listed Chinese auto information website operator, with Tencent.
Qingdao Haier in its €475 million investment of leading Italian home appliance manufacturer Candy S.p.A.
Bright Food (Group) Co., Ltd., in connection with its acquisition of a 90% stake in Salov Group, an Italian producer and seller of olive oil, seed oil and related products. The deal was awarded by the Italy China Foundation at the China Awards 2014 in the “Top Investors in Italy” category.
Baidu in the strategic partnership with CloudFlare, a U.S. internet security company.
M17 Entertainment, a leading social networking entertainment start-up backed by Temasek, on its acquisition of MeMe Live, a live streaming platform controlled by Beijing-based social gaming developer Funplus.
Trax, a Singapore unicorn in the AI and computer vision field backed by Warburg Pincus and Boyu Capital, in connection with its acquisition of Lenztech, a leading Chinese retail AI and Big Data service platform.
LexinFintech, a NASDAQ-listed online consumer finance platform in China, in its investments in the U.S. and Southeast Asia.
BesTV New Media Co Ltd, a Shanghai Stock Exchange listed company, in connection with its US$100 million acquisition of a 51% stake in AdSage (one of the largest digital marketing companies in China).
Pactera Technology International Ltd., a global consulting and technology services provider headquartered in China, in the acquisition of its Swiss arm focusing on IT outsourcing services.
VanceInfo Technologies Inc., an information technology service provider and one of the leading offshore software development companies in China, in connection with the US$875 million merger with hiSoft Technology International Ltd. to form the largest China-based offshore IT services provider, Pactera Technology International Ltd.
Going-private
The special committee of the board of directors of Hailiang Education Group (NASDAQ: HLG), an education and management services provider in China, in the US$368 million going-private transaction.
JD.COM, as the shareholder, on its agreement with the buyer’s group to privatize Bitauto (NYSE: BITA).
The special committee of the board of directors of Gridsum Holding (NASDAQ: GSUM), a leading provider of cloud-based big-data analytics and artificial intelligence solutions in China, in its going-private transaction.
Founder and chairman of Perfect World Co., Ltd. (Mr. Michael Yufeng Chi) in the US$1 billion privatization of the company.
Chairman and CEO of Highpower International, Inc. (Mr. George Pan) and the acquiring consortium in the going-private transaction of the company, a China-based developer and manufacturer of lithium ion and Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and battery management systems.
The Special Committee of Sky-mobi, a NASDAQ-listed mobile application platform and game publisher in China, in the privatization of the company.
Chairman and CEO of Sungy Mobile Limited (Mr. Yuqiang Deng) and the consortium that he formed in the US$155 million privatization of the company. Sungy Mobile is a leading NASDAQ-listed provider of mobile internet projects and services in China.
Pactera Technology International Ltd., a global consulting and technology services provider headquartered in China, in its US$625 million privatization by a consortium led by Blackstone Group L.P.
Private Equity
NEKCOM, an independent Chinese game developer, in its $8 million Series A Round led by Galaxy Interactive, one of the largest venture capital funds dedicated to the video game and interactive sector.
JD.com Inc., one of China’s largest B2C online retailers listed on NASDAQ, in connection with:
- US$800 million series B preferred share financing of its infrastructure asset management subsidiary, JD Property, with investors led by Hillhouse Investment, Warburg Pincus, and one leading global institutional investor.
- the US$931 million Series A financing for its healthcare subsidiary, JD Health, with investors including CPEChina Fund, CICC Capital, and Baring Private Equity Asia.
- the US$2.5 billion financing for its logistics subsidiary, JD Logistics, with investors including Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia China, China Merchants Group, Tencent, China Life, China Development Bank Capital FOF, China Structural Reform Fund and ICBC International, among others. This is the largest private fund raising in China’s logistics industry.
Everpine Capital in its US$60 million acquisition of a 100% stake in U.S.-based Children's Group LLC.
China Media Capital in its US$100 million Series D investment in Bilibili, China’s leading entertainment company for young generation; substantial investment in SECA Holding, a leading sports management and marketing company in China; and its investments in several Chinese technology companies.
Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd. in its proposed investments in several U.S. technology companies.
Warburg Pincus in connection with:
- its repurchase of shares by 58.com. The shares were subsequently sold to Tencent.
- its sale of shares in Xueda Education Group, a leading tutoring services provider for primary and secondary school students in China.
- its sale of shares in RDA Microelectronics, a Chinese fabless semiconductor company.
Capital Markets
Hong Kong IPOs by Kangda International Environment (privately-owned wastewater treatment facilities operator), Comtec Solar, China Properties Group and Springland International (retail chain operator).
NASDAQ IPOs by Tudou.com (video site), Sky-mobi (mobile application store), Mecox Lane (online apparel platform), Perfect World (online game developer) and China Sunergy (solar cell manufacturer).
NYSE IPOs by Taomee (children’s entertainment and media company), IFM Investments (Century 21 China Real Estate), VanceInfo Technologies (information technology service provider) and solar companies ReneSola, Trina Solar and Suntech Power.
Convertible bond offerings by 361 Degrees (sportswear company) and China ITS (transportation infrastructure technology solutions and services provider).
Singapore IPO by Yanlord Land Group.
