Kirkland & Ellis has hired private equity and M&A lawyer Peng Yu as a partner in its Hong Kong office from Ropes & Gray.
Yu is Kirkland’s second announced partner hire in Hong Kong in a matter of weeks, following the news that the office would be welcoming former SFC official Brian Ho in August. Since last month, Kirkland Hong Kong has also lost two capital markets partners: Howie Farn and Li-Chien Wong have joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and HKEx, respectively.
Yu advises PE and corporate clients on buyouts, take-privates, PIPEs, growth capital investments, divestitures, joint ventures and other cross-border transactions. Among his key clients is Alibaba; Yu advised the company on its $1.15 billion investment in Farfetch, its $1.38 billion PIPE investment in ZTO Express, and its $1.4 billion take-private of iKang Healthcare, among others.
He also advised Baring Private Equity Asia in its acquisition and subsequent $1.8 billion disposal of Weetabix Food Company, and Blackstone in its $625 million take-private transaction of Pactera Technology International.
Yu spent 11 years at Ropes, having joined that firm in 2011. Prior to that, he worked at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, and Shearman & Sterling.
With the addition of Yu, Kirkland’s Hong Kong office now has 31 partners.
