Baker & McKenzie recently advised Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPPIB") on its new venture with China Vanke Co., Ltd. ("China Vanke"), the largest residential developer in China. Through this venture, CPPIB will over time invest USD250 million in the Chinese residential market.

To seed the venture, CPPIB and China Vanke are investing in a project located in Qingdao, Shandong Province in China. The venture will focus on new residential development projects in large cities across China.

The Baker & McKenzie team was led by Hong Kong-based partner Dorothea Koo, and also involved corporate partners Jason Ng and Michael Horman. The team had led responsibility for transaction documentation and general transaction management. Commenting on the deal, Dorothea said, “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with CPPIB on their latest new venture in Asia.”

CPPIB is a professional investment management organization that invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan ("CPP") in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income instruments. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, New York and Sao Paulo, CPPIB is governed and managed independently of the CPP and at arm’s length from governments. As of 31 December 2013, the Fund totalled CAD201.5 billion. Its investments in Asia totalled CAD23.4 billion representing 11.6 percent of the total portfolio, including CAD4.2 billion of real estate investments.