Lipton Li

Lipton is a US lawyer based in our Hong Kong office. Recognised as a Next Generation Partner in the Hong Kong Equity Capital Market by Legal 500, he has extensive experience in international capital markets, as well as financing and restructuring projects. He mainly advises underwriters and issuers on equity and debt capital markets transactions, including GDRs, IPOs, high yield bonds, investment grade bonds, private placements, secondary offerings, equity-linked transactions and other financing transactions, and has in-depth knowledge of financing and stock exchange regulatory requirements.

Work highlights

Lipton has been involved or played a crucial role, in many of the market’s most significant deals. Highlights include advising on the following (amongst others):

• Hong Kong IPOs: Sunshine Insurance Group Company Limited, China Tourism Group Duty Free Corporation Limited, Qingdao AInnovation Technology Group Co Ltd, Deewin Tianxia Co., Ltd., Aquila Acquisition Corporation (the city’s first ever SPAC listing), Gushengtang Holdings Ltd, Blue Moon Group Holdings Ltd, China Feihe Ltd, Shanghai La Chapelle Fashion Co Ltd, Beijing Urban Construction Design & Development Group Co., Limited, Orient Securities Co Ltd and New China Life Insurance Co., Ltd.
• GDR listings on the London Stock Exchange of Shanghai-listed and Shenzhen-listed companies: Zhejiang Yongtai Technology Co. Ltd., Ming Yang Smart Energy Group Limited, SDIC Power Holdings Co., Ltd, China Yangtze Power Co., Ltd. and Huatai Securities Co., Ltd (the first GDR listing on the Shanghai-London Stock Connect segment).
• GDR listings on the SIX Swiss Exchange via the China-Switzerland Stock Connect: Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd., Kunshan Dongwei Technology Co., Ltd., Fangda Carbon New Material Co., Yangzhou Yangjie Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., Lepu Medical Technology, Sunwoda Electronic Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Supcon Technology Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Eastern Shenghong Co., Ltd., Joincare Pharmaceutical Group Industry Co., Ltd., Keda Industrial Group Co Ltd and Ningbo Shanshan Co Ltd (among the first batch of GDR listings on the SIX Swiss Exchange via the China-Switzerland Stock Connect).
• Other international listings: D shares listing of Haier Group on the regulated market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange via CEINEX and the listing of Jiayuan.com on Nasdaq.
• Debt capital markets transactions: the offshore exchangeable bond issuance of China Yangtze Power Co., Limited (the first dual-currency exchangeable bonds in the international capital market), the first preference shares issuance of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, the high yield bond issuance of Meinian Onehealth, the bond offering of the Ministry of Finance of China, the 144A and Reg S bond offerings of State Grid, the 144A and Reg S bond offerings of China Southern Grid, and the MTN programme establishment and 144A bond offerings of ICBC Leasing.
• Financing and restructuring transactions: the bankruptcy and restructuring of Lehman Brothers International (Europe), the financing of Caspi Bitum Project (a bitumen plant in Kazakhstan), the loans and refinancing of Almatis GmbH, and the refinancing of Royal Bank of Scotland.

Lipton has been on secondment to the legal department in Citigroup in 2017, assisting in various debt and equity capital markets transactions, including the sovereign debt issuance by the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China.

Lipton has led the structuring and execution of the offshore exchangeable bond issuance of China Yangtze Power Co., Limited, which was awarded the debt and equity-linked deal of the year by International Financial Law Review in March 2017.

Lipton was a guest speaker on the topic of high yield covenants and their implications for the market participants in the Conference for Offshore Chinese High Yield Bonds Market hosted by Wall Street Trader.

Lipton is a co-founder and a supervisor for iVertus Foundation, one of the first batch of innovative private charitable foundations vetted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and approved by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, focusing on education and medicine in the impoverished regions in China. 

Lipton holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, New York and is a member of the New York Bar, United States of America.

He speaks fluent English and Mandarin.