David Bulley

Practice Areas

David Bulley is the Managing Partner of the Hong Kong and Shanghai offices of Appleby and the Head of Private Equity/M&A and Restructuring in Asia. With over 14 years of experience in the legal industry, he is a trusted advisor to clients on complex and high-value transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and restructurings across multiple jurisdictions.

David is also one of very few offshore lawyers based in Hong Kong who has been admitted in the Cayman Islands and the only offshore restructuring partner based in Hong Kong who has been admitted in Cayman Islands and BVI.

As a CFA Level 1 holder and a recognized restructuring and M&A specialist, David has a deep understanding of the financial and strategic aspects of his practice areas, as well as the regulatory and market dynamics in the offshore jurisdictions.

David’s advice is regularly sought on all aspects of offshore debt restructurings by both debtors and creditors. Dominant in the market for advising China real estate developers on offshore aspects, David advises on liability management and offshore restructuring options. David is currently leading the Appleby teams acting for six China real estate developers, previously advised on all offshore aspects of the successful restructuring of China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd. and led the Appleby team which created new Cayman precedent by obtaining the dismissal of a winding-up petition brought against Shinsun Holdings Group Co, Ltd. by ultimate account holders of NY law governed notes, with such precedent recently having been referred to and followed by the Courts in Hong Kong.

In the last four years David has successfully led and completed M&A transactions with an aggregate value in excess of USD 135 billion, being named “Cayman Islands Mergers & Acquisitions Lawyer of the Year” in each of these years, and has advised on numerous landmark and precedent-setting mandates involving US and Hong Kong listed companies, creditors, and debtors.

Career

Prior to moving offshore, David trained at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London before practising at Kirkland & Ellis and Sullivan & Cromwell in London.