Paul Guan

Since joining Kirkland, Paul’s representative matters included:

• Sequoia China Infrastructure Fund on its formation of a joint venture with DJ New Ease Group in connection with the acquisition of an industrial land in Haining City, Zhejiang Province, China. The target land covers a gross floor area of about 128,388 square meters, which will be developed into a life and health industry park
• Sequoia China Infrastructure Fund on its formation of a joint venture with DJ New Ease Group in connection with the acquisition of an industrial land in Fengxian District, Shanghai, China. The target land covers a gross floor area of about 107,262 square meters, which will be developed into a biomedical industry park
• Bain Capital on its formation of a US$250 million manufacturing park joint venture for new economy infrastructure (“JV Platform”) with DJ New Ease Group. The JV Platform will focus on the development and operation of modern manufacturing parks in China’s core economic hubs. This transaction was named “Best Property Deal - China Offshore” by FinanceAsia Achievement Awards 2024 and “Joint Venture Acquisition of the Year – APAC” by IJ Investor Awards 2024
• Link REIT (HKSE: 823) in its acquisition of a portfolio of assets in Singapore, including retail malls Jurong Point and Thomson Plaza, at a consideration of approximately S$2.16 billion (approximately $1.6 billion). This marks Link REIT’s first real estate acquisition in Singapore. This transaction was named “Best Property Deal - Singapore” by FinanceAsia Achievement Awards 2023
• An Asia real estate fund managed by Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE: APO) on its formation of a joint venture with the management team at Haoyang Data and Mandarin Capital to acquire an 80 per cent interest in a data center asset known as Baoding No. 1 Data Center Project in Hebei Province, China 
• Sequoia China Infrastructure Fund on its investment in GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: GDS; HKSE: 9698), a 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
• LimeTree Capital, a fiduciary private equity investment manager with a focus on under-researched real estate asset classes across Asia, on a platform consolidation of the commercial car park assets held by its two China-focused private investment funds 
• LaSalle Investment Management, a leading global real estate investment firm, on the formation of a joint venture with Bluetown Group, a renowned high-quality developer in China, for the bidding and acquisition of a large scale mixed-use land near Hangzhou, China. The land is expected to be developed into a modern living community with a gross floor area of over 200,000 square meters
• Funlive, a China multifamily specialist, on its joint venture with KKR, a leading global investment firm, to acquire and operate a landmark multifamily project in Beijing (the project) from China SCE Group, an integrated urban services provider that focuses on real estate development 
• Sino-Ocean Prime Office Partners I LP, a US$1.4 billion fund formed by Sino-Ocean Capital, on the acquisition of Ocean Office Park and Project Z6, two grade-A office projects located in the central business district of Beijing

Prior to joining Kirkland, Paul’s representative matters included:

• Subsidiaries of Hon Hai Technology Group (also known as Foxconn), a leading Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer and technological solution provider, on their disposition of an aggregate of 50% Class A stake in Cybertan Technology Corp. to an affiliate of SCPG Holdings, and their formation of a joint venture with SCPG for a large-scale shopping mall development project in Minhang District in Shanghai, China
• Manulife in its formation of a partnership with Gaw Capital Partners, as the single largest investor of the Gaw Capital-led consortium, for the HK$9.845 billion acquisition of Cityplaza One, a 21-storey grade-A office tower in Hong Kong, from Swire Pacific and Swire Properties
• CDIB Capital International, a private equity arm of China Development Financial, and its affiliates KGI Bank and KGI Securities, on their US$45 million corporate mezzanine financing to one of the leading serviced apartment providers in Hong Kong. The financing transaction consisted of a combination of loan facility and note sharing a common transaction security package
• SDP Investment in the formation of a joint venture with an international institutional investor in connection with the acquisition of U-Show Plaza in Beijing for an investment amount of approximately RMB4 billion. This is one of the largest acquisitions with foreign investment in the Beijing real estate market since the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Apollo Global Management on its formation of a joint venture with Hong Kong Shanghai Alliance Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong-listed real estate investor, and on the joint venture's RMB3.1 billion acquisition (and financing relating thereto) of Great Wall Financial Building, a 52-storey high-rise landmark commercial building located in Huangpu District, Shanghai
• Proprium Capital Partners, a privately-held real estate focused principal investing firm, and a middle eastern sovereign wealth fund as its co-investor, in the formation of a US$500 million joint venture with China SCE Group Holdings and FUNLIVE Holdings to invest in high quality rental apartment projects in gateway cities in China
• JHJ Logistics, a company led by former executives with The Carlyle Group's Asia real estate platform, in connection with the formation of a joint venture with Jaguar Growth Partners, and the joint venture's acquisition of Brilliant Enterprise Management Consulting, a leading warehouse, distribution and logistics property company in China
• ARA Asset Management in its formation of a partnership with Straits Real Estate and ICBC International and the partnership's RMB2.42 billion acquisition of Sanlin InCity, a retail mall located in the Sanlin District of Pudong, Shanghai
• CapitaLand Asia Partners I, the first discretionary real estate equity investment fund for CapitalLand, in its acquisitions of two prime Shanghai office buildings: Innov Center (at a value of approximately US$450 million) and a 50% interest in Pufa Tower (at a value of approximately US$400 million)
• Ascent Real Estate Investors and Sigma Delta Partners Investment on the formation of an institutional investor consortium and the consortium's US$1.34 billion acquisition of Dinghao Electronics Plaza, a landmark complex located in the core area of Zhongguancun, Beijing. The transaction is one of the largest-ever foreign investor acquisitions of a Beijing commercial real estate asset
• China Life in its formation of a strategic joint venture with ElmTree Funds, LLC for the US$950 million acquisition of a commercial real estate net lease portfolio in the U.S.
• China Life in the US$1.65 billion acquisition of 1285 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan. The purchaser consortium was led by RXR Realty LLC., a New York Tri-State Area active institutional owner, manager, and developer. China Life is the single largest investor in the transaction
• China Life in its formation of a partnership with GLP and two additional leading Asian global institutional investors for the acquisition of a Class-A, state-of-the-art U.S. logistics portfolio valued at approximately US$4.5 billion
• One of the largest insurance companies in China in its investment in a global opportunistic real estate fund that will invest in a diversified portfolio of high-quality property assets in North America, Europe, Australia, Brazil and other selected markets. This transaction is one of the largest fund investments by a Chinese insurer in the market to date
• A private equity fund jointly established by a RMB fund under Ping An Insurance, Pacific Eagle (U.S.) Real Estate Fund, LP, Great Eagle Holdings Ltd. and a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Orient Asset Management Corporation, in its formation of two joint ventures to develop two residential projects in San Francisco and Malibu, California
• Ping An in its formation of a joint venture with Blumberg Investment Partners to invest in long-term and high-quality leased assets across the United States. This transaction marks Ping An's entry into the United States' logistics real estate market. This platform has committed to an initial investment totaled US$600 million and plans to continue acquiring high-quality assets. It has identified a batch of strategical customized logistics property projects for potential investment, with a value in excess of US$400 million
• China Cinda, in its investment in Glorious Stand and Harmonic Run, which engaged in the operation of themed indoor experience centers under the intellectual property licenses granted by Lionsgate
• ICBC International in its formation of an offshore fund with China Logistics Property Holdings ("CNLP") in connection with the acquisition of a logistics real estate asset portfolio wholly-owned by CNLP in a consideration of RMB2 billion. The portfolio includes three logistics assets in three cities in China(Wuxi, Zhengzhou and Shenyang), with a total area of approximately 550,000 sq. m.
• ICBC International in its formation of a partnership with Sino-Ocean Group for the RMB5.38 billion acquisition from affiliates of Sino-Ocean of Ocean Office Park (Beijing). Ocean Office Park (Beijing) is a Grade-A office building located in the core area of CBD, Chaoyang District, Beijing
• ARA Asia Dragon Fund II, a fund managed by an affiliate of ARA Asset Management, in the disposal of Beijing Jingtong Roosevelt Plaza at a value of RMB2.56 billion
• China Overseas Land in its US$400 million buyout of its joint venture partner in Shanghai
• SCPG Holdings Co., Ltd., a leading shopping mall owner, developer and operator in China, China Vanke Co., Ltd., a leading urban and rural construction and residential service provider, and Triwater Asset Management Holdings Limited, in their formation of an offshore consortium in connection with a RMB8.365 billion (approximately US$1.33 billion) acquisition of a large-scale China real estate portfolio from CapitaMalls Asia Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Limited. The portfolio comprises of 20 shopping malls with a total gross floor area of around 950,000 square meters in locations across 19 cities in China
• Hongkong Shanghai Alliance Holdings, a Hong Kong public listed company, in the formation with GIC of a US$350 million investment platform for the acquisition of Shanghai office properties
• Golden Fortune Company Limited as investor and ICBC Asset Management (Global) Company Limited as investment manager on the investor's US$75 million investment in the convertible note financing of Uxin, the largest used car e-commerce platform in China
• ICBC International in its investment into JD Logistics' US$2.5 billion Series A financing. JD Logistics is the warehousing and shipping subsidiary of China's second-largest ecommerce player JD.com. Other investors included China Life, Tencent, and China Development Bank Capital FOF. This was one of the largest single financings in China's logistics industry
• CDH Investments, a leading Chinese private equity firm, in its acquisition of a controlling stake in the Xingchuang Technique Plaza (also known as Innov Star) project, and its formation of a joint venture with TecPark Development Holdings, a China-based business park developer, for the development of this project. Xingchuang Technique Plaza is a Class A industrial office building in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. We also represented the joint venture in the US$300 million disposal of this project to D&J Industrial a few years later. D&J Industrial is a China-based leading business parks and industrial facilities developer
• ICBC International Investment Management Limited, the wholly-owned subsidiary of ICBC, in its disposal of US$100 million indirect interest in YangGuang Co., Ltd., a Chinese real estate developer listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, to CNCB (Hong Kong) Investment Limited
• China Cinda in its participation, together with Cindat Capital Management, Union Life and another large Chinese insurer, in the acquisition of a US$930 million healthcare real estate portfolio in the U.S., which is comprised of 11 senior housing properties and 28 long-term/post-acute care facilities
• ICBC International Investment Management Limited, the wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, on its formation of a partnership with Sino-Ocean Capital Limited for the acquisition of a large commercial real estate portfolio in China. The portfolio comprises six commercial properties aggregating approximately 200,000 sqm across Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenyang, China, of which approximately 65% is for office use and the remaining 35% is for retail use
• SRE Group Limited, a Hong Kong-listed real estate developer and a subsidiary of China Minsheng Investment Group, in its US$88 million acquisition of 80% interest in 75 Howard in San Francisco from RDF 75 Howard LP, an investment fund controlled by Paramount Group. 75 Howard has been entitled to build a harbor-front complex with high-end residential, retail and parking uses. This marks SRE Group Limited's first investment in North America
• Hong Kong Shanghai Alliance Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong-listed company, in its sale of Central Park, a 27-storey commercial building in Shanghai, to a leading private equity fund
• Starwood Capital, a leading global private investment firm, on the establishment of a China-based hotel joint venture with Shimao Property Holdings, a leading Chinese property developer and operator. The joint venture will focus on developing, operating, and branding assets in the hotel market in China
• Ping An in its acquisition of a 47.4% interest in New York Stock Exchange-listed AutoHome from Telstra for US$1.6 billion. This transaction was awarded "Deal of the Year 2016" by China Business Law Journal
• Warburg Pincus as Hong Kong counsel in a follow-on investment in China-based rental apartment operator Mofang Gongyu's US$300 million Series C round of financing led by Chinese financial conglomerate AVIC Trust. Warburg Pincus has previously invested in Mofang in its Series B round of financing in 2012
• A joint venture between The Carlyle Group and CLSA in the sale of Hongjia Tower, a Grade-A office building in Shanghai, China, to a Taiwan investor; and in the sale of Hongjia Tower to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yuexiu Real Estate Investment Trust a few years later
• The Carlyle Group in its investment in a strategic partnership and joint venture with Shanghai Yupei Group to own and develop multiple China warehouses
• Digital Realty Trust in its formation a joint venture with Savvis and, through such joint venture, the acquisition of a data center property located in New Territories, Hong Kong
• Prax Capital in the formation and raising of the first foreign managed onshore RMB denominated real estate private equity fund