Richard Ho

Profil Richard Ho

Richard is a Counsel in our global transactions group, specialising in capital markets.

He has extensive experience advising shareholders, issuers and underwriters on the full spectrum of equity and debt capital markets transactions and listed companies on their ongoing and transaction specific obligations.

Richard has been named a stand-out lawyer in the independent global survey of senior in-house counsel by Acritas/Thomson Reuters. Prior to joining Freshfields, Richard practised at a leading US firm in London and also spent time on secondment at a leading investment bank and in Asia.

Mandate

Richard's experience includes advising:

• National Bank of Greece on two domestic and international offerings and sale of a combined 32% stake in its shares by the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund for aggregate proceeds of €1.75 billion
• Smurfit Kappa on its US$20 billion combination with WestRock to create Smurfit Westrock, dual listed on the New York Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange
• BAE Systems on Air Astana's US$847 million IPO and listings on the London Stock Exchange, Astana International Exchange and Kazakhstan Stock Exchange
• a major shareholder on aspects of Galderma's CHF12.6 billion IPO and listing on the SIX Swiss Exchange
• CK Infrastructure on aspects of its secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange
• Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund and Paneuropean Oil and Industrial Holdings on their €235 million  sale of an 11% stake in HelleniQ Energy Holdings through an accelerated bookbuilt offering to institutional investors
• an ad hoc group of controlling bondholders in connection with the €830 million restructuring of the Takko Fashion group via a debt for equity swap
• Deliveroo on its £7.6 billion IPO and listing on the London Stock Exchange with a US-tech-style dual-class share structure, share buyback programmes, and management on their post-IPO share sales
• the sponsor and underwriters on Darktrace's £1.7 billion IPO and premium listing on the London Stock Exchange, and the global coordinator on the post-IPO share sales by management and employees
• a cornerstone investor in Fix Price's US$2 billion IPO
• Cazoo on aspects of its US$7bn de-SPAC transaction with AJAX I and listing on the NYSE
• Advent International and Rubix Group on Rubix's proposed IPO and premium listing on the London Stock Exchange
• Aston Martin on its: (i) £111 million placing and retail offer in 2024; (ii) £216 million placing and retail offer in 2023; (iii) £654 million capital raise through a £78 million strategic investment by The Public Investment Fund and £576 million rights issue in 2022; (iii) strategic technology agreement with Mercedes-Benz and issue of new shares and warrants as part of a £1.3 billion financing package in 2020; (iv) £152 million non-pre-emptive cash-box placing and parallel retail offer of new shares in 2020; and (v) £536 million capital raise through a £171 million strategic investment by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll and £365 million rights issue in 2020
• Nissan on its €1.15 billion divestment of its shares in Daimler through a placement to institutional investors by way of an accelerated bookbuilding process
• Renault on its joint venture with Geely focused on next-generation hybrid and powertrain solutions 
• Esken on its £200 million refinancing transactions consisting of an investment by Carlyle into London Southend Airport, an equity raise by way of a firm placing, placing and open offer, and a new revolving credit facility
• the joint sponsors and underwriters on Whitbread's £1 billion rights issue
• the sponsor and underwriters on Shaftesbury's £307 million capital raise through a firm placing, placing and open offer, and offer for subscription
• KKR and other selling shareholders (including funds managed by Index Ventures, Ares and Alven Capital) on the post-IPO sale of their remaining shares in Trainline, by way of accelerated bookbuilds to institutional investors for aggregate gross proceeds of £564 million
• Trainline on its £50m share buyback programme and £1.2 billion court approved reduction of capital
• Warburg Pincus, General Atlantic and Emirates NBD Bank in the post-IPO sale of their shares in Network International by way of accelerated bookbuilds to institutional investors for aggregate gross proceeds of £930 million
• CNIC Corporation in the sale of its shares on Energias de Portugal by way of an accelerated bookbuild to institutional investors for aggregate gross proceeds of €176 million
• bp on the sell-downs of its stakes in Aker BP ASA and Serica Energy by way of accelerated bookbuilds to institutional investors
• Steinhoff on its PLN 1.48 billion sale of its shares in Pepco Group  by way of an accelerated bookbuild placing to institutional investors
• Hellman & Friedman‘s €288m sale of its shares in Allfunds by way of an accelerated bookbuild to institutional investors
• Saudi National Bank’s CHF1.5bn investment in Credit Suisse through participation in a private placement and subsequent rights issue
• Ontario Teachers’ sale of Camelot UK to Allwyn
• ExpressVPN on the US$936m sale of its business to Kape Technologies
• GXO Logistics on aspects of its £762 million recommended cash offer for Wincanton
• James Fisher and Sons on the disposal of RMSpumptools 
• Patient Square Capital and its Elevage Medical Technologies platform on a pending investment by Elevage and Prudential Assurance Company in 4basebio 

Richard’s equity capital markets and corporate experience* includes advising:

• Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna and National Atomic Company Kazatom­prom on Kazatomprom’s US$451 million IPO and listings on the London and Astana stock exchanges; Phoenix Group on its £935 million Class 1 acquisition of Abbey Life from Deutsche Bank partly funded by a £735 million rights issue; Old Mutual on the strategic separation of OM Asset Management through a US$308 million IPO on the New York Stock Exchange and subsequent secondary offerings and disposals for an aggregate consideration of more than US$2 billion; Ares Life Sciences on the court-approved €1 billion cross-bor­der merger of Stallergenes and Greer Laboratories to create a global biopharmaceutical company registered in the UK and listed in Paris; Globalworth Real Estate on its €687 million private placements of shares listed on AIM; M7 Real Estate on the establishment of a new UK REIT and the proposed £300 million IPO and premium listing on the London Stock Exchange; Hochschild Mining on its £65 million rights issue; PIK Group on its US$255 million tender offer for and cancellation of its GDRs listed on the London Stock Exchange; Russell Investments on its US$2.7 billion acquisition by the London Stock Exchange Group; Nokia on the US$7.2 billion sale of its devices and services business, and the issue of €1.5 billion convert­ible bonds to Microsoft; and Ctrip on its £1.4 billion acquisition of Skyscanner.

Richard’s debt capital markets experience* includes advising:

• the underwriters on the State of Qatar’s US$14 billion bond issues; the underwriters on HSBC’s issuances of senior, subordinated and contingent convertible notes in excess of US$40 billion; Westfield on its £800 million and US$500 million offerings of guaranteed senior notes; The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation on its US$2.3 billion pre-export financing transac­tions involving the forward sales of crude and refined products; The Arab Republic of Egypt on the establishment of its US$12 billion debt programme; Banco BTG Pactual on its US$5 billion medium-term note programme, the US$1 billion and CNY 1 billion syndicated note issues under the programme, and the US$1.3 billion offering of perpetual subordinated notes to fund its acquisi­tion of BSI; Ashtead Group on issuances of US$3.2 billion senior secured notes; Endo Interna­tional on its US$1.2 billion and US$1.635 billion notes in connection with its acquisitions of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals and Par Pharmaceutical; GeoProMining on its debut US$300 million bond issue; SIBUR on its debut US$1 billion bond issue; Eurasia Drilling Company on its debut US$600 million bond issue and subsequent tender offer for the bonds prior to maturity; CEMEX on issuances and refinancings of its senior secured notes in excess of US$15 billion; the ultimate shareholder of Russian Standard Bank on a UK court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement to restructure its US$550 million of Eurobonds; Bruns­wick Rail on a consent solicitation to restructure its US$600 million bonds; and BNY Mellon as trustee and JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank as solicitation agents in the initial issue and a consent solicitation to revise the financial covenants of EVRAZ’s US$700 million bonds.

* Including matters prior to joining Freshfields.