Zhao Sheng Law Firm, Linklaters’ China joint operation firm in Shanghai, has recently lost its managing partner Eric Liu to Beijing-based Haiwen & Partners.
Linklaters’ China joint operation firm in Shanghai, Zhao Sheng Law Firm, has elected corporate partner Richard Gu as the firm’s new managing partner. Gu is taking over the leadership from Eric Liu, who has recently left to join Beijing-based Haiwen & Partners as a partner.
Gu has over 20 years of experience advising on China-related cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and joint venture transactions across different sectors including automotive, consumer, healthcare, mining and real estate.
Gu has advised on a number of billion-dollar cross-border transactions over the years, including acting for Shandong Iron and Steel Group in its $1.5 billion acquisition of a 25 percent stake in the Tonkolili iron ore mine project in Sierra Leone and the subsequent acquisition of the entire interest in the project through an enforcement sale process.
He has also been involved in advising Cevian Capital on its $3.8 billion sale of an 8.2 percent stake in AB Volvo to Geely, and representing Shanghai Automotive-owned Yanfeng in its $7.5 billion global automotive interiors joint venture with Jonson Controls.
The Shanghai-based lawyer began his career at Linklaters as an associate in 2000 and was promoted into the firm’s partnership in 2011. After spending 19 years at Linklaters, Gu moved to Zhao Sheng Law Firm in 2019 and has been serving as a partner at the firm since.
Zhao Sheng Law Firm, which has an office in Shanghai and Beijing respectively, currently counts nine partners and one managing associate, according to the firm’s website.
In September this year, Linklaters moved to cut its lawyer headcount in all three of its Greater China offices, attributing its measure to the prolonged economic downturn in the region.