Gary Li

Practice Areas

Gary Li is a partner in Kirkland's Hong Kong office. Gary has substantial experience advising on complex and cross-border M&A and private equity transactions in Asia. He has significant experience with leveraged buy-outs, take-privates, PIPEs and growth equity investments. Gary has been recognized as a leading lawyer for private equity by a number of legal publications. Gary has been recognized as a leading lawyer for private equity in Chambers Greater China, IFLR1000 and Legal 500 Greater China.

Personal

Gary focuses his practice on both private equity and M&A transactions. He has significant experience with leveraged buy-outs, taking-private transactions, PIPEs and growth equity investments. He has worked on some of the most challenging transactions in the region over the last few years representing top tier investment funds and corporations.

Prior to joining Zhong Lun, Gary was a senior corporate partner at the Hong Kong office of Kirkland & Ellis. Prior to that, Gary was partner at Ropes & Gray and counsel at Paul Weiss. He has been consistently recognized as a leading lawyer for private equity and M&A in IFLR1000, Legal 500 as well as Chambers and Partners. According to Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2025, "Gary Li is noted for his broad, longstanding expertise, often advising on high-value take-privates and equity investments." According to Chambers Greater China, a client indicated that "Gary has been active in the buyout space" and "is a strong player with his language and culture ability."

Work Highlights

Represented Adicon Holdings Limited (HKEX: 9860), a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, to acquire Crown Biosciences

Represents Dongyangguang to acquire Chindata Group's China business for RMB28 billion (approximately US$4 billion) in cash from Bain Capital. The transaction marks the largest merger and acquisition deal of China's data center sector to date

Represented Bain Capital on the US$3.16 billion take-private of Chindata Group Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: CD), a leading carrier-neutral hyperscale data center solution provider in Asia-Pacific emerging markets. This transaction was named as "Private Equity Deal of the Year" by IFLR Asia-Pacific Awards 2024 and the Best Private Equity Deal by FinanceAsia

Represented The Blackstone Group on its acquisition of Interplex Holdings Pte. Ltd., a global leader in innovative and customized connector solutions for the auto, medical and information communications technology markets through a manufacturing footprint spanning 13 countries, from Baring Private Equity Asia, in a transaction valued at approximately US$1.6 billion. This transaction was named as "Finance Deal of the Year" by Asia Legal Awards 2023

Represented a consortium of investors, comprising Centurium Capital, PW Medtech Group Limited (HKSE: 1358), CITIC Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Temasek and Marc Chan, in the take-private of China Biologic Products Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBPO), a leading fully integrated plasma-based biopharmaceutical company in China, at a valuation of approximately US$4.7 billion. This transaction was named "Pharmaceutical, Medical and Biotech M&A Deal of the Year" by Mergermarket China M&A Awards 2021, "Deals of the Year 2021" by China Business Law Journal, "M&A Deal of the Year" by China Law & Practice Awards 2021 and "Private Equity Deal of the Year" by IFLR Asia-Pacific Awards 2022

Represented the audit committee of the board of directors of RISE Education (NASDAQ: REDU) on RISE Education's merger with Dada Auto Inc. (NaaS), a leading operation and technology provider serving China's electric vehicle charging market, pursuant to which NaaS shareholders exchanged all of the issued and outstanding share capital of NaaS for newly issued shares of RISE Education. This transaction was named "Deals of the Year 2022" by China Business Law Journal

Represented Centurium Capital on its original investment and subsequent transactions involving Luckin Coffee (LKNCY), a leading Chinese coffee chain

Represented The Carlyle Group on its acquisition of Ambio Pharmaceutical, and its investments in HUTCHMED, OneSmart International Education Group Limited, Shanghai ANE Logistics, JIC Leasing Co., Ltd. and Microport Scientific Corporation

Represented Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited (NYSE: OPA), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, on its proposed business combination with Forbes Global Media Holdings Inc., the iconic business information brand

Represented Poema Global Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: PPGH), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company affiliated with Princeville Capital, on its business combination with Gogoro Inc., a global technology leader in battery swapping ecosystems that enable sustainable mobility solutions for cities

Represented ADICON Holdings Limited (HKSE: 9860), a Carlyle portfolio company, on its initial public offering and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Represented Warburg Pincus as the largest shareholder in the US$1.6 billion initial public offering of shares and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange of their co-founded and controlled portfolio company, ESR Cayman Limited, a leading APAC-focused logistics real estate platform

Represented MicroPort Scientific Corporation (HKSE: 853) in its US$190 million acquisition of the European-based Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) business of NASDAQ-listed LivaNova, PLC

Represented Bain Capital and Yonghui Superstores in connection with its acquisition of Daymon Worldwide Inc., a global leader of retail services that was incorporated in Delaware

Represented Blackstone on its take-private of NASDAQ-listed Global Sources Ltd. and NASDAQ-listed Pactera Technology

Represented Blackstone on its $400 million PIPE investment in HKSE-listed YiChang HEC ChangJiang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (HKSE: 1558) and its PIPE investment in NASDAQ-listed VNET Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: VNET, formerly known as 21Vianet Group, Inc.)

Represented DCP Capital on its investments in Tonghua Dongbao Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, a leading diabetes pharmaceutical company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and American-Sino Healthcare, and various other transactions

Represented Sequoia China Infrastructure Fund on its investment in GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: GDS; HKSE: 9698), a leading developer and operator of high-performance data centers in China, through the purchase of $200 million 0.25% convertible senior notes due 2029. Sequoia China Infrastructure Fund and GDS also entered into a strategic cooperation agreement to pursue future collaboration

Represented Silver Lake Partners, as the lead investor among a group of investors, in connection with their investments in Koubei, an affiliate of Alibaba Group and a local offline-to-offline service provider in China, in Koubei's US$1.1 billion equity financing round

Represented Capital International Private Equity Funds as the lead investor in a fundraising round by Didi Kuaidi, the leading taxi-hailing platform in China. The fundraising raised US$2.5 billion in total

Represented KKR in various transactions including its US$1.6 billion proposed leveraged buy-out of Yageo Corporation (TWSE: 2327) and its investments in Modern Dairy (HKSE: 1117) and Far East Horizon

Represented Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia in various transactions including its US$350 million taking-private transaction of Sihuan Pharmaceutical (a public company formerly listed on Singapore Exchange)

Represented Shanghai government in connection with the Shanghai Disney project