King & Wood Mallesons advises on the going-private financing of SINA

On 22 March 2021, SINA Corporation ("SINA," NASDAQ: SINA) announced the completion of the merger with New Wave Mergersub Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sina Group Holding Company Limited, pursuant to the agreement and plan of merger signed by SINA on 28 September 2020. The syndicate, consisting of China Minsheng Banking Corporation Limited as mandated lead arranger and bookrunner, China Merchants Bank, Ping An Bank and Bank of Shanghai as joint lead arrangers and Fubon Bank as one of the lenders, has provided the financing in the amount of approximately US$1.332 billion to New Wave MMXV Limited for this going-private transaction. Sina Group Holding Company Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Wave MMXV Limited, a business company controlled by Mr. Charles Chao, the Chairman and CEO of SINA. As a result of the merger, SINA became a wholly owned-subsidiary of Sina Group Holding Company Limited and will be delisted from NASDAQ.

SINA is a leading online media company serving China and the global Chinese communities. Its digital media network of SINA.com (portal), SINA mobile (mobile portal and mobile apps) and Weibo (social media) enables internet users to access professional media and user generated content in multi-media formats from personal computers and mobile devices and share their interests with friends and acquaintances. Listed on NASDAQ on 13 April 2000, SINA is China's first web portal listed in the U.S.

As the leading counsel to the syndicate in this transaction, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has assisted in the structuring of the financing and security arrangement in this transaction, drafting and negotiating relevant finance documents, finalizing the relevant conditions precedent to the financing, and coordinating the local counsels in relevant jurisdictions. In addition, the KWM team also advised on the relevant approvals, fillings and registrations, security registration and improvement and other matters in relevant jurisdictions, receiving high recognition from the client.

In this project, the KWM team was led by Stanley Zhou and Simon Xu from Shanghai office and Jessica Zhou from Hong Kong office, with support from Keith Huang, Sun Wanqing, and Xie Yingjie from Shanghai Office, and Candice Chan and Gary Au Yeung from Hong Kong Office.