Slaughter and May advised Alibaba Group Holding Limited in relation to its privatisation of Intime Retail (Group) Company Limited

Slaughter and May, Hong Kong, advised Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Alibaba), in relation to its privatisation, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Alibaba Investment Limited, of Intime Retail (Group) Company Limited (Intime), together with Intime International Holdings Limited as joint offerors. It was implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement (Scheme), an offer over the share options of the Company and a proposed withdrawal of the listing of Intime’s shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The Scheme was announced on 10 January 2017. The amount of cash required to implement the proposal was approximately HK$19.8 billion (US$2.6 billion).

China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited is the financial adviser to the joint offerors.

Alibaba, whose shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is the world’s largest online and mobile commerce company and has developed leading businesses in consumer e-commerce, online payment and financial services, business-to-business marketplaces, cloud computing, logistics and digital entertainment.

Intime is a Cayman-incorporated company which was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Stock Code: 1883). It is principally engaged in the business of operation and management of 29 department stores and 17 shopping malls in the PRC.

This transaction followed the successful completion in 2014 of the HK$5.37 billion strategic investment by Alibaba into Intime by way of subscription of shares and convertible bonds and its establishment of an O2O joint venture with Intime, which Slaughter and May advised on as legal counsel to Alibaba.