Fangda represented Alibaba Group Holding Limited (“Alibaba”) as its primary deal counsel as well as its PRC and Hong Kong local law counsels for the sale of 100% equity interest in Intime (one of the leading department store operators in the PRC) by Alibaba and a minority shareholder to a consortium of purchasers comprising Youngor Group and members of Intime’s management team (the “Intime Sale”). Alibaba currently holds approximately 99% of the equity interest in Intime. The expected gross proceeds to Alibaba from the Intime Sale is approximately RMB7.4 billion. This transaction was signed on December 17, 2024 and the completion is subject to PRC merger control clearance and other customary closing conditions.

Fangda has provided comprehensive one-stop legal services to Alibaba in this transaction, including participation in the design of the transaction structure, sell side due diligence, assisting with the negotiation, drafting, revision, and finalization of transaction documents, as well as supporting the completion and related matters.

The Fangda team is led by Norman Zhong, with support from partners Helen Fan and Samuel Xie.  The corporate team based in Shanghai and Hong Kong includes Yixin Zhang, Joyce Pei, Wyatt Zhang, Jingyi Li, Crystal Liu and Ellison Ma.  Jeffrey Ding (partner, capital markets), Caroline Huang (partner, antitrust), Zhang Hao (partner, M&A) and Ray Xu (counsel, corporate) also provided support to this project.