Kingfisher plc, Europe's leading home improvement retailer, today announced a binding agreement to sell a controlling 70% stake in its B&Q China business to Wumei Holdings Inc for a total cash consideration of £140 million. The transaction is conditional on MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce) approval.

The Hogan Lovells team was led by the firm's Chair and Kingfisher relationship partner, Nicholas Cheffings, and Beijing corporate partner Jun Wei; supported by senior associates Lu Zhou, Kitty Zhang, Betty Li and associate Shaokai Wang in Beijing; senior associate Roberta Chang (Shanghai, tax); consultant Charles Butcher and associate Valerie Fung (Hong Kong corporate); Karen Hughes (London tax partner); and partners Guy Potel, Tom Brassington and associate Heba Soliman (London corporate) and others.

Commenting on the deal, Nicholas Cheffings said:
"This is our first major corporate instruction for the Kingfisher plc and we are pleased to have had the opportunity to work alongside the in-house legal team of Clare Wardle and Sophie Hacker-Waels in London and Jacob Fang and Grace Xiang in Shanghai on this transaction. We hope to do more business together".
Clare Wardle, Group General Counsel of Kingfisher plc, said of the transaction:

"A lot of people were involved in bringing this challenging deal to fruition and it was a real joint effort by the Kingfisher team and Hogan Lovells. The support from Hogan Lovells in London, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong was great – not just from the partners but the entire team. It was a pleasure working with them all and to share this success."