Bio
Hannah Yao (Yao Hua) is a Partner in the Corporate Department of Appleby’s Shanghai office.
Hannah is a dual-qualified lawyer and was admitted to practice in the US (New York) and in the PRC, specialising in private equity funds, M&A and general corporate law. Hannah has extensive experience in various cross-border investments, especially in the TMT sectors.
Hannah is a native Mandarin speaker and fluent in English. Coming from a leading PRC firm, she has considerable experience in assisting and representing PRC clients with their legal requirements. Her clients include leading PE funds (Softbank, Hongshan, Bain Capital, TPG, Qiming, Primavera Capital and DCM, amongst others), leading technology companies (Apple, Tesla, ByteDance, 21Vianet Group, Sina Group, Meituan and Hans Laser) and the PRC state-owned enterprises (China Reform, China Huaneng, China Investment Corporation, China CITIC, China Silk Road Fund and CICC, etc.)
Hannah also assisted various clients with their equity restructuring from the Cayman and BVI law perspective, as well as offshore compliance-related work for US or Hong Kong listed offshore companies.
Prior to joining Appleby, Hannah worked with King & Wood Mallesons in Shanghai, Beijing and New York, and Fangda Partners in Beijing.
Bio
Hannah Yao (Yao Hua) is a Partner in the Corporate Department of Appleby’s Shanghai office.
Hannah is a dual-qualified lawyer and was admitted to practice in the US (New York) and in the PRC, specialising in private equity funds, M&A and general corporate law. Hannah has extensive experience in various cross-border investments, especially in the TMT sectors.
Hannah is a native Mandarin speaker and fluent in English. Coming from a leading PRC firm, she has considerable experience in assisting and representing PRC clients with their legal requirements. Her clients include leading PE funds (Softbank, Hongshan, Bain Capital, TPG, Qiming, Primavera Capital and DCM, amongst others), leading technology companies (Apple, Tesla, ByteDance, 21Vianet Group, Sina Group, Meituan and Hans Laser) and the PRC state-owned enterprises (China Reform, China Huaneng, China Investment Corporation, China CITIC, China Silk Road Fund and CICC, etc.)
Hannah also assisted various clients with their equity restructuring from the Cayman and BVI law perspective, as well as offshore compliance-related work for US or Hong Kong listed offshore companies.
Prior to joining Appleby, Hannah worked with King & Wood Mallesons in Shanghai, Beijing and New York, and Fangda Partners in Beijing.
Work Highlights
Some of Hannah’s major cases include:
- SoftBank Vision Fund on multiple acquisitions and exits.
- Ascendent Capital Partners on multiple acquisitions and exits.
- Warburg Pincus on multiple acquisitions and exits.
- Ping An on the privatisation of OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. by way of a scheme of arrangement (under Section 86 of the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands); and the withdrawal of OneConnect’s listing from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, involving a transaction consideration of USD217 million.
- Ximalaya on the definitive merger agreement with Tencent Music Entertainment Group for the proposed acquisition by Tencent of a 100% stake in Ximalaya.
- Buyer Consortium on the privatisation of Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited (NYSE: BEDU) and withdrawal of Bright Scholar’s listing from the New York Stock Exchange.
- Dada Nexus on its privatisation by JD.com. Following completion, Dada Nexus was delisted from the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and became a privately held company.
- Black Spade Acquisition II Co (NASDAQ: BSII) on the De-SPAC transaction with Generation Essentials Group, culminating in the listing of TGE on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NYSE American.
- Bain Capital on its USD 570 million investment in the China-based data centre developer and operator Beijing Qinhuai Technology and the reorganization of Bain Asia IDC assets and the strategic cooperation with a key customer of IDC portfolio company.
- Asia Investment Fund in its purchase of USD 50 million convertible note issued by 21Vianet Group, Inc.(世纪互联), a Nasdaq-listed company and a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China.
- Apple Operations (a subsidiary of Apple Inc.) in its equity investment into various solar PV and wind power projects operated by Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd and Sichuan Shengtian New Energy Development Co., Ltd as well as acquisition of environmental attributes related to such projects.
* Includes transactions completed by the lawyer prior to joining Appleby
Some of Hannah’s major cases include:
- SoftBank Vision Fund on multiple acquisitions and exits.
- Ascendent Capital Partners on multiple acquisitions and exits.
- Warburg Pincus on multiple acquisitions and exits.
- Ping An on the privatisation of OneConnect Financial Technology Co., Ltd. by way of a scheme of arrangement (under Section 86 of the Companies Act of the Cayman Islands); and the withdrawal of OneConnect’s listing from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, involving a transaction consideration of USD217 million.
- Ximalaya on the definitive merger agreement with Tencent Music Entertainment Group for the proposed acquisition by Tencent of a 100% stake in Ximalaya.
- Buyer Consortium on the privatisation of Bright Scholar Education Holdings Limited (NYSE: BEDU) and withdrawal of Bright Scholar’s listing from the New York Stock Exchange.
- Dada Nexus on its privatisation by JD.com. Following completion, Dada Nexus was delisted from the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and became a privately held company.
- Black Spade Acquisition II Co (NASDAQ: BSII) on the De-SPAC transaction with Generation Essentials Group, culminating in the listing of TGE on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NYSE American.
- Bain Capital on its USD 570 million investment in the China-based data centre developer and operator Beijing Qinhuai Technology and the reorganization of Bain Asia IDC assets and the strategic cooperation with a key customer of IDC portfolio company.
- Asia Investment Fund in its purchase of USD 50 million convertible note issued by 21Vianet Group, Inc.(世纪互联), a Nasdaq-listed company and a leading carrier- and cloud-neutral Internet data center services provider in China.
- Apple Operations (a subsidiary of Apple Inc.) in its equity investment into various solar PV and wind power projects operated by Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd and Sichuan Shengtian New Energy Development Co., Ltd as well as acquisition of environmental attributes related to such projects.
* Includes transactions completed by the lawyer prior to joining Appleby
Qualifications & Education
- 2015 – Admitted as an attorney-at-law in New York State (not practising)
- 2016 – Admitted as an attorney-at-law in the People’s Republic of China (not practising)
- Xiamen University (China) – Master’s in International Law
- University of Wisconsin Law School Madison (WI, U.S.A) – LL.M
- Johns Hopkins University (Nanjing University Centre) (China) – Graduate Certificate in Chinese and American Studies
- Tianjin University – Bachelor of Laws
- Nankai University – Bachelor of Finance
- 2015 – Admitted as an attorney-at-law in New York State (not practising)
- 2016 – Admitted as an attorney-at-law in the People’s Republic of China (not practising)
- Xiamen University (China) – Master’s in International Law
- University of Wisconsin Law School Madison (WI, U.S.A) – LL.M
- Johns Hopkins University (Nanjing University Centre) (China) – Graduate Certificate in Chinese and American Studies
- Tianjin University – Bachelor of Laws
- Nankai University – Bachelor of Finance