Profile: Robert Ashworth

Mergers and Acquisitions

Biography: Mergers and Acquisitions

Robert Ashworth is a partner in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Hong Kong office and is head of the firm's corporate practice in Asia. He specialises in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and securities work. Recent M&A transactions in Asia include advising: Anheuser-Busch on its US$739m takeover of Harbin Brewery - China's first contested takeover; Anheuser-Busch to set up a brewing joint venture with Crown Beers in India; Criteria Caixa Corp on its US$508m acquisition a further 4.55 per cent stake in Bank of East Asia, increasing its total stake in Bank of Asia to 8.89 per cent; Eaton Corporation in relation to the anti-trust aspects of its acquisition of Phoenixtec Power; Hutchison Telecom on the sale of its 67 per cent interest in Hutchison Essar, India's fourth largest mobile phone operator, to Vodafone; Lazard Asia Fund on its public bid for and subsequent disposal of Sing Tao Holdings, publisher of the Hong Kong Standard; Morgan Stanley on its acquisition of Nantung Bank - the first US bank to acquire a commercial banking licence in China; Morgan Stanley, which acted as financial advisor to Henderson Land Development, in the US$1.55bn acquisition of certain companies in the Henderson Investment; Pacific Century Premium Developments (PCPD), the real estate unit of PCCW Limited, on its proposed US$333m privatisation; Prudential on the acquisition of Allstate's life businesses in the Philippines and Indonesia; Tokio Fire & Marine on its insurance joint venture with Sino Life; UBS on its acquisition of Standard Chartered's mutual funds management business in India; UOB on its merger in Hong Kong with OUB; Warburg Pincus on the US$250m consortium bid for Harbin Pharmaceutical - China's largest private equity deal in 2004; Warburg Pincus on the US$175m investment in Titan Petrochemical Group; Wing Hang Bank on its US$180m purchase of Inchroy Credit Corporation; and Zurich Insurance on the acquisition of a stake in New China Life.

Robert is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and England & Wales. He joined the firm in 1985 and he has lived and worked in the United States and England. He has been resident in Hong Kong since June 1994. He was educated at King's College at the University of London.

He is the coordinating editor of the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions in Asia.