DLA Piper has acted for Sinopharm Group Company Ltd ("Sinopharm"), China's largest pharmaceutical company, on the issuance of HK$5.5 billion of new shares which is the third H share placement for Sinopharm since its HK$8 billion IPO in 2009.

The placing closed on 01 December and saw 198,801,600 shares sold to six to ten non-retail investors at HK$28.40 per share. Sinopharm will use the net proceeds of the issuance to aid the expansion of their pharmaceutical distribution and retail network, as well as for working capital.

The team was led by Dr. Liu Wei (Office Managing Partner, Beijing), Stephen Peepels (Head of US Capital Markets, Asia Pacific) and was supported by Vivian Liu (Of Counsel, Beijing), Timothy Franklyn (Registered Foreign Lawyer, Hong Kong), Hai Ye Liu (Senior Associate, Beijing), Xiao Li (Legal Officer, Hong Kong) and Guo Qi (Legal Assistant, Beijing).

Sullivan & Cromwell represented the Placing Agents, which included China International Capital Corporation, UBS AG and Morgan Stanley.