By Rossana Chu, Jacky Chan : 

Mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) transactions of public companies often receive a lot of publicity. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of activities in private M&A.  In Hong Kong, there are two main types of acquisitions in the private M&A space: (1) purchase of shares of a private company and (2) asset purchase. The sale and purchase of shares is a common form of corporate acquisition in Hong Kong.

By acquiring all or the majority part of a target company’s share capital, the buyer can exercise control over the target company as well as all its businesses and assets. Yet, some parties choose to acquire assets because it allows cherry-picking the suitable assets in the target company. This article provides some of the key legal issues involved in a private M&A and considers the differences between a share purchase and asset purchase.  READ FULL ARTICLE

Download (pdf)

Note: This material has been prepared for general information purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as professional advice for any cases. Should you need further information or legal advice, please contact us.