2022.11.16
JunHe recently advised GDH Supertime Group Co., Ltd. (Supertime or the Issuer) on its initial public offering (IPO) and listing on the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Shares of the Issuer commenced trading on November 16, 2022, under the stock code 001338.
Supertime is engaged in the research and development, production and sales of malt and has the largest production and sales of barley and wheat malt in China. It is China’s largest and the fifth-largest malt manufacturer by production capacity in the world and it has established long-term close cooperation with leading brewing groups such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, CR Beer, Beijing Yanjing Brewery, Zhujiang Brewery, Tsingtao Brewery, Carlsberg and Heineken. Supertime is under the control of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Guangdong Province (Guangdong SASAC) with the malt production and marketing platform owned by the state-owned enterprise Guangdong Holdings Limited (GD Holdings), It is the first company under the supervision of Guangdong SASAC to successfully list on the SSE or SZSE in the past decade.
JunHe acted as legal counsel to the Issuer in this transaction, and has provided Supertime with comprehensive legal services on an ongoing basis since 2017. JunHe’s lawyers assisted the client with its mixed ownership reform. This included conducting preliminary due diligence, assets restructuring, the establishment of an SPV for the purpose of an IPO, investor acquisition and an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), and successfully integrated the domestic malt production and operation entities owned by GD Holdings into Supertime. JunHe’s team successfully completed the transformation of Supertime into a joint stock company. In the IPO review process, JunHe’s lawyers conducted legal analysis and gave feedback and response to the issues that the securities regulators were concerned with regarding the issuer’s historical development, its material assets restructuring and horizontal competition. JunHe delivered professional, efficient and comprehensive legal services for this transaction, helping Supertime complete its IPO successfully. JunHe’s legal expertise and successful results earned it the recognition and trust of the client and other intermediaries.
The JunHe team was led by partners ZHANG, Ping and GUO, Xi (Edward) Special counsel CHEN, Yi (Joyce) led the advice on the investor acquisition, the ESOP and other matters related to the mixed ownership reform involved in the IPO. JunHe partner Teresa Lee issued legal opinions regarding Hong Kong laws related to this transaction and JunHe partners SHI, Tiejun and ZHANG, Tao offered technical guidance. The JunHe team also enjoyed strong assistance from partners FU, Jun (Laura) and LAO, Chengzhe. JunHe partner LIU, Xin conducted the internal review and provided valuable advice for this transaction.
