Robert Woll is the chair of the firm's Asia Corporate Practice Group. He joined the firm in 2007. Mr. Woll has approximately 25 years of experience advising corporations, financial institutions and financial investors in connection with capital markets, M&A, private equity, project finance and other transactions. He now advises a wide range of private equity and alternative investment funds, working extensively on the organization and marketing of these funds to global institutional investors and on their investment activities in China and other Asian emerging markets.
Practice
Mr. Woll has worked with many Asian financial institutions on capital raising and strategic transactions, as well as recapitalizations during the Asian financial crisis of 1998-1999. He advises Chinese banks and securities firms with respect to joint ventures and international transactions. He also acts for a number of pioneering private equity fund management sponsors based in Asia in organizing and offering interests in investment funds focusing on investment in China and other Asian emerging markets. He advises private equity and alternative investment fund clients on the full life cycle of their activities, from the formation and operation of private investment funds and other investment vehicles to downstream investments and exit strategies.
Mr. Woll has represented Asian companies, banks and insurance companies, as well as underwriters and lenders, in many of global securities offerings and major project finance transactions. He also has extensive experience in advising buyers, sellers and financial advisors on M&A transactions in Asia.
Mr. Woll has been resident in Beijing and Hong Kong since 1997, having practiced previously in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Earlier in his career, Mr. Woll worked as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in New York, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. After college, he worked as a lecturer at Tunghai University in Taiwan and taught Chinese language at Middlebury College. Mr. Woll speaks and reads Mandarin.
Recent Highlights
- Represented Tsing Capital Co. Ltd., the venture capital firm affiliated with Tsinghua University, in the organization of China Environment Fund III, LP, a venture capital fund focusing on investments in China’s clean tech sector. The fund raised over $230 million in multiple closings through its final closing in January 2009.
- Represented Peking University Founder Group in its private equity activities.
- Representing Jade China Value Partners I, LP, a fund-of-funds focusing on China private equity funds.
- Representing Saudi Economic and Development Company (SEDCO), an Islamic wealth management organization, in connection with its investments in China and India and its asset management joint ventures.
- Represented SAIF Partners and SB Asia Investment Fund II, LP in connection with equity investments in ATA Testing Authority, China Broad Media, Eternal Asia Supply Chain Management, NVC Lighting Holding Limited, Yanhuang Health Media Limited and other Chinese companies.
- Represented Hong Kong-based real estate investment company KHI Holdings in its purchase of an equity interest in Beijing Lufthansa Center Co. Ltd.
- Represented ChinaHR.com Holdings Ltd. in Monster Worldwide’s $50 million acquisition of its initial 40% equity stake in ChinaHR.
Professional Activities
- Member, International Bar Association
- Member, Law Society of Hong Kong
Honors and Awards
- Recognized in Chambers Asia 2010 for private equity: buyouts in China/Hong Kong
- Listed in the Guide to the World's Leading Investment FundsLawyers as "one of the pre-eminent practitioners in the world"
- Recognized by Chambers Asia 2008 for private equity:venture capital investment
- Ranked in the 2007 and 2008 editions of Chambers Global in the "top tier" for private equity in China/Hong Kong
- Listed as a "leading" lawyer in the PLC Which Lawyer? - Private Equity Handbook 2006/07 and 2007/2008