Todd Bissett

Mr. Bissett is a partner in the Corporate Practice Group in the firm's Shanghai office. He is also the Managing Partner of the office.

Areas of Practice

Mr. Bissett has a broad legal background with experience in corporate and commercial law both in the US and the PRC. His practice focuses on private equity, emerging market venture capital, M&A transactions, capital markets and on the formation and structuring of foreign direct investments in the PRC including joint ventures. He represents both issuers and investors in investment and M&A transactions, working extensively with venture capital funds, hedge funds, and major institutional and strategic investors. Mr. Bissett has experience in an array of industries, including internet and telecom services, software, infrastructure, energy, semiconductors, education and medical devices and services.

Education

• J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 2001, magna cume laude, Executive Editor, Georgetown Law Journal, Executive Director, Barristers' Counsel
• B.A., McGill University, 1998, with distinction

Admissions

• California

Representative Venture Capital & Private Equity Transactions

• Primary representative of major U.S. hedge fund in several transactions, including:
  • US$14 million Series A investment in wireless digital television company, in connection with US$40 million Series B investment by new investors, and as a selling shareholder in the company’s NASDAQ IPO
  • Advice, research and documentation on approximately $450 million preferred stock investment in syndicate of Chinese hospitals (deal ultimately terminated)
• Primary representative of major institutional investor in several transactions, including:
  • US$150 million Series A investment in oilfield management company; US200 million Series B investment in same company
  • Several US$10 million - $25 million investments in a companies in a variety of industries, including education, pharmaceuticals, and value-added telecom services
• Investor counsel in US$40 million Series A financing of digital mapping company
• Issuer counsel in US$25 million Series A financing of education services company
• Between 2006 and 2009, closed over 50 VC/PE transactions, with most of these transactions also involving substantial restructuring of operations, ownership and assets to meet needs of investors while complying with PRC laws and regulations

Representative M & A Transactions

• Represented major institutional investor in conducting a limited auction seeking sale of a variety of interests in privately owned portfolio companies, and negotiated final sale documentation for individual companies with interested purchasers
• Seller counsel in limited auction and sale of a private foreign-invested PRC bank
• Seller counsel in acquisition of PRC network technology company by private US network technology company, along with a simultaneous Series C financing in purchaser by selling shareholders
• Purchaser counsel with respect to PRC operations in acquisition by a private US consumer goods company of a division of a listed European company with several PRC manufacturing and sales sites and operations
• Represented foreign institutional investor in agreement to form an offshore joint venture with PRC managers and PRC government-owned investment vehicle to in turn form an onshore PRC Renminbi-denominated fund for investment in domestic PRC companies
• Represented a publicly listed US company in formation of a joint venture with a private Hong Kong company with respect to building and operating a semiconductor materials manufacturing plant and distribution of products in Asia
• Have assisted numerous companies in devising and implementing China entry strategies, in industries as varied as education, semiconductors, architecture and publishing
• Have assisted in the successful listings, and ongoing reporting requirements, of several PRC companies listed on US exchanges

Memberships

• California Bar Association
• American Bar Association

Articles

Co-Author, "Towards a Greener Peace: Nuclear Reprocessing and Security in East Asia," International Environmental Cooperation: Politics and Diplomacy in Pacific Asia (The University Press of Colorado).

Contributor, "Annual Review of Criminal Procedure," The Georgetown Law Journal (May 2001)

China Law Blog Articles

• "Return to Direct, Onshore PRC Investments", June 9, 2009