Baldwin Cheng is a Hong Kong- and English-qualified partner in White & Case's Asia Banking, Capital Markets & Restructuring practice group.

Baldwin's experience includes a number of high-profile matters across Asia, advising borrowers and financial institutions in domestic and cross-border, secured and unsecured, and syndicated and bilateral bank financings, including acquisition financings.

Baldwin is particularly focused on leading major outbound financings (including export credit financings and acquisition financings) for PRC banks to various jurisdictions (including Europe, Africa and South America). He also advises on property-related financings, pre-IPO financings and margin lending transactions.

Baldwin also advises banks and corporates in non-contentious insolvency and restructuring matters has been recognized as a leading individual for China Restructuring/Insolvency by independent legal directory Chambers Asia.

Prior to joining White & Case, Baldwin worked in the London and Hong Kong offices of a UK law firm as a member of its Banking/Business Restructuring and Insolvency Group. In 2007, Baldwin completed a six-month secondment to the HSBC transaction management team where he supported the debt capital markets team and was predominantly responsible for loan transactions.

Baldwin's experience includes advising:

• China Development Bank Hong Kong Branch in its US$1.365 billion acquisition financing to China Niobium Investment Holdings Limited, an SPV set up by a consortium consisting of CITIC Group, Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corporation, Baosteel Group Co., Ltd., Shougang Corporation and Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Group) Co., Ltd., for the acquisition of a minority stake in Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineracao (CBMM), a privately held Brazilian miner of niobium.
• A group of 14 banks supporting the US$460 million refinancing for the Aricent Group. The financing involves the refinancing of the loan facilities relating to the Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR)-led buyout of the Aricent Group in 2006. The 2006 financing will be refinanced by a new US$75 million revolving credit facilities (which may be drawn by way of letter of credits) and US$385 million term loan facilities. The bank group includes Bank of America, N.A.; BNP Paribas, Singapore Branch; Citibank, N.A.; Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd., Hong Kong Branch; Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc.; Standard Chartered Bank New York; UBS AG Hong Kong Branch; Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation; Natixis; General Electric Capital Corporation; Nomura International (Hong Kong) Limited; Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC; and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
• China Development Bank Corporation Hong Kong Branch in a US$150 million loan to a Chinese state-owned business producing steel products.
• China Development Bank Corporation Hong Kong Branch in a multi-tranche term loan of US$85 million and RMB 104 million to a Russia-incorporated company in the logging industry. This financing has adopted the "Nei Bao Wai Dai" structure, under which CDB Jilin branch will issue a bank guarantee in favour of CDB HK branch, and the PRC parent of the borrower will provide a counter-indemnity in favour of CDB Jilin branch.
• The lenders and arrangers in a HK$2.35 billion term loan to Agile Property Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries. The lenders and arrangers on the club facility are Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited, Barclays Bank PLC, The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Hong Kong Branch, The Bank of East Asia, Limited, Hang Seng Bank Limited, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited and Wing Lung Bank Limited. Standard Chartered Bank also acted as facility agent and security agent in the financing.
• China Development Bank Corporation in its financing of Perilya Canada Limited's US$183 million acquisition of GlobeStar Mining Corporation.
• China Development Bank (CDB) as arranger, facility agent, original lender and security trustee of a US$1.5 billion financing to the Republic of Angola, acting through the Ministry of Finance.
• Deutsche Bank, Hong Kong Branch, Macquarie Capital (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., UBS AG, Hong Kong Branch and DBS Bank Limited, as joint mandated lead arrangers and joint mandated bookrunners in a US$75 million acquisition financing provided to MMI Precision Technologies Limited for its acquisition of Intri-Plex Technologies, Inc.
• ING Bank as arranger in a club syndicated revolving €410 million five-year loan to Foxconn Slovakia, spol. s r.o. The loan is guaranteed by its Taiwanese parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd.
• PCCW Ltd in its self-arranged HK$16 billion equivalent refinancing. The loan, which is made to Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) Ltd and guaranteed by HKT Group Holdings Ltd, comprises a HK$8 billion revolving credit, a HK$3 billion term loan and a HK$5 billion term loan.
• Hong Kong-based Pacific Century Group (PCG) in its US$500 million acquisition of AIG's investment advisory and asset management business – PineBridge Investments. The acquisition was made by PCG's subsidiary, Bridge Partners, a limited partnership, and brings to PCG a New York-based business with operations in 32 countries which manages US$87 billion of investments for institutional and retail clients across private equity, hedge funds of funds, equities and fixed income.
• Pacific Century Group (PCG) in a dual-tranche, dual currency, three year loan to its property development arm, Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited (PCPD). The financing to PCPD comprises an offshore HK$2.8 billion secured facility syndicated to six banks and an onshore RMB 10 million bilateral secured facility.
• A bank in relation to a quasi-commercial property securitization in Hong Kong. The financing comprised of both a bank loan and a liquidity facility.
• Deutsche Bank, GE Commercial Finance, ING Bank, Morgan Stanley and DBS as mandated lead arrangers in the provision of debt financing of approximately US$280 million to Latch Holding (Labuan) Limited, a company formed at the direction of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to acquire Unisteel Technology Limited, a Singapore-listed maker of disk-drive components, for approximately US$578 million. This deal was awarded "Best Leveraged Financing" and "Best Private Equity Buyout" by Finance Asia. It also won "Asia Pacific Leveraged Deal of the Year" at EuroWeek Asia's Syndicated Loans and Leveraged Finance Awards 2008.
• Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd. on the financing for Affinity Equity Partners' acquisition and privatization of First Engineering Limited by way of a general offer in Singapore and on the subsequent refinancing involving senior and mezzanine debt.
• SoftBank, a leading Japanese technology and investment company, in relation to an approximately ¥1.4 trillion whole business securitization of its operations to refinance the acquisition by Softbank Mobile Corp. of Vodafone’s operations in Japan. This deal won "Japan Deal of the Year," "Securitisation Deal of the Year" and "M&A Deal of the Year" at the Japan Asian Legal Business Awards in 2007; Finance Asia's "M&A Deal of the Year," "Securitization Deal of the Year" and "Best Deal of the Year" in 2007; Euromoney's "Japan LBO of the Year 2007"; IFLR "M&A Deal of the Year 2007"; and were also recognized by Acquisition Finance and Asian Counsel magazines as "Deal of the Year."
• Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited on its exposure to EganaGoldpfeil Holdings Limited and its group companies in Hong Kong and Germany.
• LP Displays International Ltd. (formerly known as LG Philips Displays) on its restructuring proposals and other ancillary corporate activities, including the restructuring of LPD Korea's debts in Korea.
• A financial institution on their successful bid to acquire the distressed project loans of a power project in East Africa from a Malaysian asset management company.

Bars and Courts
Solicitor, England and Wales, 2003
Solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong, 2002

Education
Bachelor of Law, University of Sydney, 1999
Bachelor of Commerce, University of Sydney, 1998

Professional Associations and Memberships
Law Society of Hong Kong
Law Society of England and Wales
Australian Chamber of Commerce, Beijing
Restructuring and Insolvency Faculty of Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA)

Publications
Co-author, "Exits from China Pre-IPO Loans: Untested options," IFLR, May 2009

Languages
English
Cantonese
Mandarin

Citizenship
Hong Kong
Australia