Asia-Pac team advises on 2016's biggest IPO

Herbert Smith Freehills in Hong Kong has advised Goldman Sachs (Asia) on the largest IPO in the world so far in 2016. The bank is joint sponsor and co-ordinator of listing and global offering of China Zheshang Bank's H shares. The law firm’s team advised on Hong Kong and US law aspects of the U$1.69 billion IPO.
The corporate team advising Goldman Sachs was led by partner Jason Sung with support from associates Jeremy Shen and Yin Yee Man, trainees Jaime Fong, Qingqing Bu and Ronald Hui, and paralegal Wendy Jiang. The US securities team was led by corporate partner Kevin Roy and senior associate Jackie Chen. All are based in Hong Kong.
 
Arbitration team swap for international firm
The international arbitration team at Ashurst is swapping partners between its Singapore and London offices. Ben Giaretti, who has been in the firm’s Singapore office for 7 years will return to London. Meanwhile, Ronnie King moves to Asia from the UK to join Rob Palmer.
 
Magic Circle firm to open second global hub
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will open its second global centre. The firm already has a UK-based global hub and the new one will be in North America with Vancouver reported to be favoured. Freshfields says it is opening the new centre due to demand from its “clients and people.”
 
International firm announces management changes
US-based firm Hogan Lovells is to make some changes to its management teams from 1^st May. Most are regional changes in the US and European regions but there is also one global management change as Charles Rix takes over as head of the insurance practice group. His appointment follows the resignation of Christoph Kueppers as sector head.
 
Law school changes name due to unfortunate acronym
A law school has decided to adjust its name in order to avoid an unfortunate acronym. The BBC reports that officials at George Mason University in Virginia wanted to pay tribute to the late Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalia and announced that the school would be named Antonin Scalia School of Law. However, Twitter users noted that the acronym would be ASSoL. The facility will now be called Antonin Scalia Law School.