Fangda Partners and King & Wood Mallesons have assisted on Alibaba’s sale of department store chain Intime for RMB7.4 billion (USD1 billion) to a consortium.
The internet giant holds around 99% of Intime’s equity interest and it has agreed, with a minority shareholder, to sell their entire stake in the department store to a consortium of buyers – Youngor Group and Intime’s management team. Youngor Group is a Chinese apparel maker and the parent company of Shanghai-listed Youngor Fashion.
Fangda partner Norman Zhong led the team advising Alibaba on PRC and Hong Kong law, while partners Helen Fan and Samuel Xie are among the team members. KWM acted as counsel for the buyers.
Alibaba, which expected to lose RMB9.3 billion from the sale, first invested in Intime in 2014, increasing its stake in 2015 to become the department store chain’s largest shareholder. In 2017, Alibaba privatised the HKEX-listed Intime for USD2.6 billion.
