London-based ‘Magic Circle’ law firm Linklaters has appointed William Liu as the next regional managing partner for Asia from 1 June, 2021.
William will take over from Nathalie Hobbs whose previous four-year term in the role will come to an end in June. Hobbes will work closely with William during a handover period. William will serve in the new role for the next four-year term. University of Hong Kong-trained William joined Linklaters in 1998 and became a partner in 2008. Since 2018, William was the head of China and head of Capital Markets Asia overseeing the firm’s strategy and vision for China. He also sat on the Asia Executive Committee.
William is a capital markets specialist with experience in a wide range of public debt, equity and equity-linked transactions along with private and proprietary illiquid and PIPE investments.
“I am looking forward to building on Nathalie’s fantastic legacy and working with colleagues across the region to drive forward our focus on clients and culture,” William said.
During his time at the Linklaters China capital markets practice, he led the firm in some high-profile regional transactions. William was the head of a Linklaters team advising the People’s Republic of China Ministry of Finance during its $US6 billion 144A/Reg S sovereign bonds offering. The deal was signed in November 2020 and attracted a record 4.5x demand of an orderbook of over $US28 billion and was Asia’s first blue bonds offering by Bank of China. For that deal, William had support from his counsel colleague Karen Cheng and managing associate Allen Zhang.
Linklaters firmwide managing partner Gideon Moore recognised William can “deliver results” and is excited to see where William takes the firm’s Asia business next. Moore also noted Nathalie Hobbs’ “energetic” contribution over the last four years. “Her sound commercial judgement and pragmatic approach has supported the region’s significant growth and we thank for her for her service,” he said.
Earlier in March, Linklaters hired two new partners in Hong Kong: M&A lawyer Xiaoxi Lin from Kirkland & Ellis and leveraged finance expert Alessandro Nolet from White & Case. Lin joined the firm’s corporate practice and Nolet joined its banking practice.