King & Wood Mallesons has advised Beijing Automotive Industry Group Co., Ltd. (BAIC) as international counsel on its offering of EUR500 million 1.90 per cent. guaranteed notes due 2020. The bonds are issued by BAIC Inalfa HK Investment Co., Limited, a subsidiary of BAIC, and are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by BAIC.

Beijing-based BAIC is a leading automotive group specialised in the development, manufacturing, distribution and after-sales services of a wide range of passenger and commercial vehicles with a focus on the mid to high-end markets. It is one of the top five largest domestic automotive manufacturers in China and is the single largest enterprise owned by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of People’s Government of Beijing (Beijing SASAC) in terms of revenue and profit.

The transaction marks BAIC’s first-ever euro-denominated bond issue.

Commenting on the transaction, King & Wood Mallesons partner Hao Zhou said, “We are delighted to have had the opportunity to advise BAIC on its debut euro bond offering. We have observed that euro bond offerings by Chinese companies are gathering pace – the total amount of bonds sold in Euros so far this year was around seven times more than last year’s total, according to Dealogic data. We are well placed to capture future opportunities given our track record in representing Chinese clients in their offshore bond offerings, strong execution capability and broad China network.”

The King & Wood Mallesons team was led by Hong Kong-based partner Hao Zhou, who has recently been named to ALB Asia’s inaugural “40 under 40” 2015 list of Asia’s brightest young legal minds. He was supported by partner Richard Mazzochi, senior associate Michael Lu, associates Jason Du and Anran Zhou.