Jo Chan has over 10 years of experience in the corporate finance market in Hong Kong. She specializes in listed company takeovers under the Hong Kong Takeovers Code, secondary public fund-raising such as rights issues and open offers, as well as large-scale business and asset injections into Hong Kong listed companies.
On the takeovers front, she has encountered a diverse variety of transactions comprising whitewash waivers, securities exchange offers, voluntary takeovers, Rule 22 applications in respect of take-up arrangements, special deals (in the form of back-to-back sale to outgoing shareholder, continuous business arrangement with outgoing shareholder, repayment of shareholder’s loan, post-takeover options and management interest retention etc.), frustrating acts (significant acquisition or disposal of assets during offer), Rule 10 reports on profit forecast and unaudited financial information (profit guarantee by outgoing shareholder, and profit warning during offer, etc.), and quasi-privatization of business segments by way of voluntary offer and distribution in specie, etc.
Having witnessed various important policy changes carried out by the regulators over the years (from the relaxation of the connected transaction rules, to the codification of the reverse takeover rules, as well as the pricing and dilutive restrictions imposed on large-scale fund-raisings), Jo has garnered valuable insights into current market trends on the regulatory front. This has contributed greatly to her solid practice in advising and structuring complicated acquisitions, coupled with fund-raisings by listed companies in Hong Kong. In doing so, she has regularly worked with other professional practitioners such as financial advisers, valuers, certified public accountants, and legal advisers from other jurisdictions. Part of her practice also involved elaborated submissions made to the regulators concerning reverse takeovers, extreme transactions, spinoffs, and other Hong Kong Listing Rules interpretation. Client industries cover a wide spectrum from traditional sectors of land development, infrastructure, hotelier, trading and manufacturing, as well as financial services licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, to more technology-focused online gaming, technology solution, and artificial intelligence-related business.
Riding on her specialties, Jo has also in recent years set foot in listed company share resumptions and listed company regulatory investigations.
