On 2 July 2018, Agricultural Bank of China Limited ("ABC") completed its non-public offering of 25,188,916,873 A-shares, raising a total of RMB 100 billion. The core group of seven investors included Central Huijin Investment Ltd., the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China, China National Tobacco Corporation and its subsidiaries and New China Life Insurance Company Ltd. This is the largest refinancing transaction ever seen on A-share market.
ABC is dual-listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Financial Stability Board has included ABC into the list of Global Systemically Important Banks for the fourth year in a row since 2014. In 2017, ABC ranked 38th on the Fortune Global 500 List and ranked 6th by Tier 1 Capital in the Top 1000 World Banks rankings released by The Banker.
Acting as ABC's PRC counsel, KWM participated in filing, response submission to regulatory comments, issuance, and all other aspects of the transaction, and provide holistic, professional and efficient solutions to various legal issues. KWM team was highly recognized and praised by the client and other agencies for its performance. KWM has provided ABC with long-term legal advice and had assisted ABC with its IPO and debut issuance of domestic preferred shares. This project was led by partners Su Zheng and Yang Xiaolei.
