4 June 2008

Freshfields advises Alibaba.com on its joint venture with Softbank in Japan

International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Alibaba.com Limited (Alibaba.com) on its successful joint venture with Softbank to extend its world leading B2B e-commerce platform into the Japan market through the formation of Alibaba.com Japan.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acted as counsel to Alibaba.com. The Freshfields team was led by partner and head of the firm’s Asia TMT sector group, Connie Carnabuci together with Tokyo based corporate partners, James Wood and Junazaburo Kiuchi. The team advised Alibaba.com on its subscription agreement, shareholders agreement and a number of key ancillary commercial agreements relevant to the operation of the Japan site and its cooperation with the existing China and international sites.

The total investment by Softbank amounts to US$20m as a result of which Softbank will hold 65 percent of Alibaba.com Japan and Alibaba.com will hold the remaining 35 percent. Alibaba.com Japan will operate the Japanese language website which will act as a platform to connect small to mid-sized businesses with buyers and suppliers globally. Alibaba.com Japan is the first B2B online marketplace for global trade that localizes language and content for a Japanese audience.

Connie commented, ‘We congratulate our client Alibaba.com on this strategic collaboration with Softbank. The deal reflects the excellent working relationship between the parties and capitalises on synergies available through this collaboration.’

The deal team included associates from both the Hong Kong and Tokyo offices, namely Shinsuke Kobayashi, Masahide Fukuda, Graham Kirk, Chester Toh, Yang Xun, Som Leung, Kenneth Chan and trainees Julia Zhu, Russell Mascarenhas and Erica Ambrosioni.

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