Xiaoxi Lin has over 15 years’ experience advising private equity and investment fund clients on their most complex and strategic transactions, including control and leveraged buyouts, growth capital investments and public takeovers.

Xiaoxi is one of the most experienced practitioners in Asia in U.S. public transactions, including take privates, PIPE (private investment in public equity) and SPAC/de-SPAC transactions.

He has significant experience advising both financial sponsors and corporations on M&A transactions, with a particular focus on the technology, healthcare and energy sectors, as well as inbound and outbound investments related to China and the U.S.

Xiaoxi has advised a wide range of financial sponsors across the U.S. and Asia, including Advantage Partners, Bain, Baring Private Equity Asia (now EQT Private Capital Asia), Carlyle, Centurium Capital, China Everbright, CITIC Capital/Trustar Capital, C Capital, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), DCP, Evenstar Capital, Genesis Capital, GF Capital, GP Investments, Hammer Capital, Hillhouse, KKR, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, Ocean Link, Orchid Asia, PAG, Snow Lake, Thomas H. Lee Partners, TPG and Warburg Pincus.

Xiaoxi studied automation at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and actuarial science at the University of Hong Kong. He holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. He has also passed all three levels of the chartered financial analyst (CFA) exam. From 2017 to 2021, Xiaoxi was the principal author of the China chapter in The Private Equity Review, an annual publication by Lexology In-Depth (formerly The Law Reviews).

Xiaoxi is fluent in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Shanghainese.

Representative Experience

• The Carlyle Group, China International Trust Investment Corporation (CITIC) Limited and CITIC Capital Holdings in the US$2.08 billion acquisition of McDonald’s operations in mainland China and Hong Kong SAR and negotiation of a 20-year master franchise agreement, the largest McDonald’s franchise in the world.
• An investor consortium, comprising Warburg Pincus Asia, General Atlantic Singapore Fund Pte., Ocean Link Partners, and Jinbo Yao, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of 58.com, in the take-private of 58.com Inc., China’s largest online classifieds marketplace, at a valuation of approximately US$8.7 billion. This is the second-largest U.S. take-private in Asia to date.
• The Special Committee of Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) in its US$9.3 billion going private transaction. This is the largest U.S. take-private in Asia to date.
• The Special Committee of Nord Anglia (NYSE: NORD) in its US$4.3 billion going private transaction.
• Plus, a provider of self-driving truck technology, in its proposed US$2.5 billion de-SPAC transaction and the related US$180 million PIPE financing from U.S. and Asian institutional investors.
• BaiJiaYun in its reverse merger with NASDAQ-listed Fuwei Films (NASDAQ: FFHL).
• Hillhouse, in various public and private investments in Asia and globally.
• PAG in its US$200 million investment in Flash, a leading Southeast Asia logistics platform.
• Sea Limited, a leading global consumer internet company, in the acquisition by its digital entertainment arm, Garena, of Phoenix Labs, an acclaimed independent games development company founded in Vancouver.
• Consortium of Bain Capital and GIC in their acquisition of a minority interest in QuEST, a global engineering solutions provider.