King & Wood Mallesons has advised Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club Co., Ltd. (Evergrande Taobao) on its listing on the New Third Board, a securities exchange for small and medium-sized entities (Stock Code: 834338). The groundbreaking listing of Evergrande Taobao on the New Third Board is unprecedented for football clubs in China, standing out as the No. 1 football IPO in Asia, which would inject capital and vigor into the sporting industry in China.

Evergrande Taobao is currently one of the most successful and influential professional football club in China and Asia. Evergrande Taobao owns and manages Asia’s premier professional football team and associated reserve team. With the boom of China’s sporting industry and the launch of the Overall Scheme of Reform and Development of Chinese Football, the development and reform of football in China has risen to a level of strategic national importance. Leveraging its entry into the capital market, Evergrande Taobao will further consolidate and enhance its corporate governance structure to develop into a world-class football club.

KWM acted as counsel for Evergrande Taobao, providing legal services in relation to all aspects of the project, including assisting Evergrande Group and Evergrande Taobao with raising new capital including through the injection of capital by players and obtaining Hong Kong Stock Exchange approval. The KWM team was led by partners Wang Lixin, Cao Yuhui, Xiao Lan and Wang Peng.