Corporate & Finance Partner Simon Cheong Joins Sheppard Mullin Beijing
Simon Kai-Tse Cheong has joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner in the firm's Corporate and Finance and Bankruptcy practice groups, based in the firm's Beijing office. Cheong joins from the Chinese law firm Zhong Lun in Beijing.
Cheong has more than 16 years experience advising multinational companies and financial institutions on cross-border M&A and financing matters. In addition to his private practice experience, Cheong served as senior counsel for the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and was responsible for managing the IFC’s legal activities in mainland China. Simon’s representative clients have included major multilateral and government institutions such as the IFC, China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund, the Swedish Export Credit Corporation, KfW IPEX-Bank, and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.
"Simon's practice straddles corporate and finance matters, two areas that Sheppard Mullin has significantly developed specialties. His knowledge and experience is both complementary and supplementary to our existing practices, especially given his significant project finance and commercial finance expertise that is a great addition to our Beijing office," said Guy N. Halgren, chairman of Sheppard Mullin.
"Sheppard Mullin is a top-tier full service firm that offers an excellent international platform to provide sophisticated global services to clients in Asia. I am impressed by the firm’s strategic vision, and look forward to working closely with my new partners in China," Cheong commented.
Cheong is one of the few lawyers in China to have worked on RMB “Dim Sum Bond” issues in Hong Kong, and specializes in advising clients on cross-border regulatory matters associated with raising RMB funds outside of China for reinvestment into mainland China. He also advised IFC on its RMB 1.13 billion “Panda Bond” issuance in China, which was the first of its kind for any foreign financial institution in China.
Cheong received his Bachelor of Laws in 1995 and Bachelor of Economics in 1993 from the University of Sydney.