Christopher Betts is a partner in the Hong Kong office of Skadden Arps focusing on China-related capital markets, M&A transactions and general corporate advice. Mr. Betts advises major corporations, investment banks and private equity funds on a broad range of corporate and securities matters, including Hong Kong IPOs, secondary listings, spin-offs, rights issues, share placements and other fundraising activities, takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, and ongoing regulatory compliance matters.
Mr. Betts has been named a leading lawyer for capital markets work in Hong Kong and China by Chambers Asia-Pacific and IFLR 1000. His experience includes representing:
- the underwriters on the Hong Kong IPOs of Air China, Beijing Capital Land, China Glass, China Hanking Group, China Mengniu Dairy, China Tianrui Cement, Kosmopolito Hotels, MediaNation, Sichuan Xinhua Winshare Chainstore, Sinotrans and Tianjin Port;
- Far East Horizon on its US$757 million global IPO and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (awarded "Deal of the Year" 2011 by China Business) and subsequent US$371 million share placement;
- JPMorgan on the listing of Hong Kong Depositary Receipts on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by Vale S.A. (awarded "Equity Deal of the Year" for 2011 by IFLR and the first ever listing of depositary receipts on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange);
- a group of nine underwriters on the US$9.2 billion global rights issue by China Construction Bank, the largest-ever rights issue by an Asian issuer;
- China Telecom on its US$10 billion acquisition of fixed-line networks from China Telecommunications Corporation; and
- China Telecom on its US$1.51 billion IPO and dual listing on the Hong Kong and New York stock exchanges (and the underwriters on the subsequent US$1.73 billion post-IPO global offering of H shares and ADRs by China Telecom to finance the acquisition of additional fixed-line networks from China Telecommunications Corporation).
Prior to joining Skadden Arps, Mr. Betts was a partner in the Hong Kong office of another major international law firm and, before that was associate general counsel for McKinsey & Company, advising on a broad range of legal and risk management issues across the Asia Pacific region. He began his career in the Hong Kong office of another major international law firm and has spent more than 15 years in China / Hong Kong.
Mr. Betts graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws (with Honors) and a Bachelor of Arts (Chinese). He was the recipient of both Australian and Chinese government funded scholarships to study in Beijing. He speaks fluent Mandarin and is a professionally qualified translator of Chinese.