On April 10, 2019, Sichuan Swellfun Co., Ltd. (stock code: 600779, hereinafter referred to as “Shuijingfang") announced that Grand Metropolitan International Holdings Limited, a subsidiary wholly owned by Diageo plc ("Diageo"), completed its voluntary partial tender offer of Shuijingfang. Haiwen acted as the PRC counsel to Diageo. This is the 3rd tender offer that Diageo conducted with respect to Shuijingfang in the decade, and Haiwen represented Diageo in all of them, a witness to Diageo’s long term commitment to the Chinese market and confidence in the Chinese traditional baijiu industry. 

Haiwen has profound experience in public M&As and material asset restructuring of A share listed companies, with a particular strength representing international clients in their strategic investments in the A share market. In addition to advising Diageo on its investments in Shuijingfang, Haiwen also worked on a number of other milestone transactions, including representing Goldman Sachs and CDH’s in their acquisition of Shuanghui, representing Carlsberg in its investment in Chongqing Beer and representing Whirlpool in its acquisition of Hefei Sanyo. 

The tender offer price is RMB 45 per share and the total transaction amount is approximately RMB 690.4 million. After the closing of this tender offer, Diageo directly and indirectly holds an aggregate of 63.14% equity interest in Shuijingfang. Haiwen provided PRC legal services to Diageo throughout the whole process of the tender offer, from early design of deal structure, to drafting and reviewing transaction documents, communication with competent authorities, issuing PRC legal opinion, and to assisting with the closing and settlement. The principle members of Haiwen team are Lan Jie, Ren Jiannan and Zhang Gaoyi.