Maria Wang

Practice Areas

MS. WANG SPECIALIZES IN REAL ESTATE M&A TRANSACTIONS, INCLUDING COMPLEX MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS, JOINT VENTURES, DISPOSALS AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENTS AND MANAGEMENT. MS. WANG ALSO HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN CROSS-BORDER FINANCING TRANSACTIONS, INCLUDING ACQUISITION/LEVERAGE FINANCING, REAL ESTATE FINANCING, STRUCTURED FINANCING AND GENERAL CORPORATE FINANCING.

Career

Ms. Wang joined Fangda as a partner in 2019. Prior to joining Fangda, Ms. Wang has worked in the Shanghai office of Allen & Overy LLP and Morrison & Foerster for more than 12 years, including in the role of partner and chief representative.

Ms. Wang is listed by Chambers Asia Pacific 2015-2020 in Real Estate: International Firms (China-based), and is also named Lawyer of the Year for Real Estate and Construction by China Law and Practice Awards 2018. Ms. Wang is rated as highly regarded lawyer in Banking practice by IFLR1000 in 2020. She is also recommended by Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2018 in Corporate and M&A, Private Equity/Venture Capital, and Real Estate. Ms. Wang has also been recognized as a Top 15 Female Lawyers in China by ALB China 2016. The award acknowledges her focus on clients, her professional achievements, significant transactions, and her years of practice.

Education

Experience

Real Estate M&A Matters:

-Represented an international institutional investor in forming a joint-venture with Sigma Delta Partners Investment for the acquisition of the U-Show Plaza mixed-use project in Beijing. The transaction involved formation of an upper level single purpose fund and a joint venture company, as well as acquisition and related financing aspects.

-Represented SilkRoad Property Partners on its acquisition and financing of two community shopping malls in Shanghai from Vanke Group.

-Represented Warburg Pincus in its up to $300 million investment in its joint venture with Creater, a Shanghai-based urban renewal operator. The group will target to acquire and redevelop real estate projects in China’s first-tier cities to convert old and underutilized buildings into modern office, retail and exhibition uses.

-Represented Morgan Stanley Real Estate in its disposal of 100% interest in a logistics center in Wuxi, Jiangshu Province to an offshore SPV established by ESR.

-Represented Morgan Stanley Real Estate in its acquisition of 100% interest in a logistics center in Dongguan, Guangdong Province from a Hong Kong seller.

-Represented Bain Capital Credit in its US$300 million convertible note investment in D&J China, a leading integrated industrial properties and service platform provider in China co-founded by Warburg Pincus.

-Represented Itochu Corporation in its exit from multiple offshore joint ventures with Mapletree which operate logistic properties throughout various cities in China.

-Represented KHI, a Hong Kong private investment fund, in its acquisition of a majority interest in Crystal Galleria, a grade-A office building in Jing’an Temple, Jing’an District, Shanghai, and a joint venture with the seller.

-Represented a number of Manulife’s entities in forming an offshore investment venture with other investors, with the venture managed by Shui On Land, the venture will target in acquiring and investing in core commercial real estate assets in China, with the first asset to be acquired by the venture being Corporate Avenue 5 (a grade A office building located in Xintiandi, Shanghai).

-Represented GLP China in its proposed acquisition of a portfolio of logistic properties from EBA, the property investment arm owned and operated by Everbright.

-Represented SilkRoad Property Partners on its RMB 527 million acquisition and financing of an office building in Minhang, Shanghai from a PRC subsidiary of a Singapore real estate development, investment and capital management company.

-Represented a real estate fund managed by LaSalle Investment Management, the investment arm of the NYSE-listed commercial real estate firm JLL, in its acquisition of an offshore holding company which indirectly own a 31-storey, grade A office building in Hongkou District, Shanghai from Alpha Investment Partners, a part of Keppel Group’s asset management arm Keppel Capital.

-Represented clients advised by BlackRock Real Estate in their acquisition of an offshore holding company which indirectly own two blocks of grade-A office buildings in Changning, Shanghai from PGIM Real Estate, a property investment affiliate of Prudential Financial.

-Represented Itochu Corporation in its multiple offshore joint ventures with Mapletree which operate more than 14 logistic properties throughout various cities in China.

-Represented Brookfield in its pre-IPO US$500 million investment (with an ability to subscribe for a further US$250 million) in convertible perpetual securities in China Xintiandi, the offshore holding company in the Shui On Land group owning interests in a portfolio of real estate assets in prime Shanghai locations including Xintiandi, Corporate Avenue 1，Corporate Avenue 2, Xintiandi Style and the Hongqiao Hub development.

-Represented Morgan Stanley Real Estate in its offshore joint venture with a Chinese logistic operator for purpose of rolling out multiple investments in international standard logistic centers in China. This platform will make its first investment in a logistic center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.

-Represented Oaktree Capital on its subscription of shares in an offshore holding company which indirectly own portfolio of business and industrial parks in China.

-Represented Kailong REI in its joint ventures with multiple investors in a number of Hong Kong office development projects.

-Represented a Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Estate with geographically diversified portfolio of China retail properties, in its acquisition of a shopping mall in Chongqing.

-Represented Tishman Speyer in its acquisition of equity interests in two project companies established and wholly owned by a major PRC state-owned developer in Shanghai, China, the project companies own numerous plots of land in Binjiang area, Qiantan where Shanghai expo was held in 2012. This area will be developed into a new business district where most of the Shanghai government authorities’ headquarters will be located.

-Represented Tishman Speyer in relation to its joint venture arrangement with a major state-owned PRC real estate company regarding its joint investment in a mixed-use real estate development project in the Jiangwan area in Shanghai, China. The deal involved joint venture arrangements in multiple jurisdictions.

Financing Matters:

-Represented a subsidiary of CITIC PE in its financing of an acquisition of equity interests in Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd. (XCMG), a leading Chinese construction machinery group, the financing was provided by Bank of China, Macau Branch.

-Represented a consortium led by AEW in their acquisition financing of a commercial complex in Beijing with a transaction value of RMB2.7 billion, the financing was structured as an onshore-offshore parallel lending structure and both were provided by China Minsheng Bank.

-Representing China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Branch as the lender in its loan financing to Zhuhai Port (Hong Kong) Co., Limited, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhuhai branch of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, for the HK$2.11 billion privatization of Xinghua Port Holdings Ltd. (SEHK: 01990) by way of a voluntary conditional general cash offer.

-Representing China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Branch as the lender in its loan financing to Optical Alpha Limited and Optical Beta Limited for the privatization of O-Net Technologies (Group) Limited (SEHK: 00877) by way of a scheme of arrangement under the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands.

-Representing a consortium of investors in the financing of a voluntary offer to acquire all of the shares in Clear Media Limited, a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The consortium consists of Mr. Han, the CEO of Clear Media, at 40%, Ant Financial at 30%, JCDecaux at 23% and China Wealth Growth Fund III L.P. at 7%.

-Represented Bank of China, Macau branch as the arranger, the lender and the agent in its loan financing to CEIEC (H.K.) Limited, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of China Electronics Corporation, for the HK$4.64 billion privatization of TPV Technology Limited (TPV, SEHK: 903; SGX: T18) by way of a scheme of arrangement under the Bermuda Companies Act.

-Representing BlackRock in its acquisition financing of an office building in Shanghai from the Chinese subsidiary of a leading Singapore bank.

-Represented Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Estate in relation to its acquisition financing of a shopping mall in Chongqing from a syndicated group of international lenders.

-Represented Standard Chartered Bank and other lenders in connection with their onshore/offshore financing of Nanjing International Finance Center in Nanjing, China.

-Represented the borrowers in connection with their onshore/ offshore financing of a high-end residential building in Dalian, China from Standard Chartered Bank and other lenders.

-Represented an international real estate fund in connection with the refinancing of its offshore loan from Aareal Bank AG for a serviced apartment in Beijing, China.

-Represented Aareal Bank Asia Limited and Aareal Bank AG in the senior loan financing of the acquisition of The Center, an international grade-A office building in Shanghai, China.

-Represented Aareal Bank Asia Limited and Aareal Bank AG in the refinancing of the USD 107 million loan made to CREO (Shanghai Central Plaza) Limited.

-Represented an international real estate fund in connection with its investment by way of a convertible loan in a major PRC property developer in Guangzhou, China.