The arrangement sees Alibaba buy back half of Yahoo’s 40 per cent share of the group.
According to The Lawyer newspaper, New York-based Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz has been recruited by Alibaba as its front line advisers -- led by corporate partner Mark Gordon -- while London-based magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer will handle Hong Kong law-related issues in the transaction. Silicon Valley firm Fenwick & West will advise on intellectual property matters.

New York connection

Yahoo has turned to long-standing advisers, New York-based Skadden as lead counsel, with the firm sending Palo Alto partner Leif King to lead the team. Fellow New Yorkers Weil Gotshal & Manges advised the company on IP issues, while the Yahoo board of directors also looked to Los Angeles-headquartered Munger Tolles & Olson for advice.
Industry commentators expect the deal to be a precursor to a full exit by Yahoo, with the possibility of an initial public offering from Alibaba Group to follow soon. Yahoo initially invested $1bn in Alibaba Group in 2005 – with Skadden and Mr King again involved.

Underwriting banks

According to The Lawyer’s report, Alibaba Group proposed to privatise its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary Alibaba.com in February 2012 -- five years after its IPO – with Freshfields and fellow magic circle firm Slaughter and May acting for Alibaba.com.
Most recently, New York’s White & Case, Asia-Pacific heavyweights King & Wood Mallesons and Cayman Islands-based firm Walkers advised six banks in the $3bn financing of Alibaba.com’s privatisation. The underwriting banks are Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Credit Suisse, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Mizuho Corporate Bank.