Weil is pleased to announce that Chris Welty, a Corporate associate based in Hong Kong, was named a “Private Equity: Rising Star” at the International Financial Law Review’s (IFLR) Asia Awards 2014 ceremony in Hong Kong on February 26, 2014. In addition, the Firm was recognized for its work on the Focus Media take-private transaction, which was named “2014 Private Equity Deal of the Year” (Weil represented CITI and CS, financial advisors on the deal).

Mr. Welty has worked on a wide variety of corporate and transactional matters for public and private companies, private equity sponsors, and financial advisors, including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, tender offers, proxy fights, restructurings, and joint ventures.

Weil wrapped up 2013 as one of the pre-eminent legal advisors on private equity and M&A deals throughout the Asia-Pacific region, and was ranked #2 for Asia-Pacific private equity deals in 2013 (based on value) in Bloomberg’s Asia Pacific Legal Advisory Mergers & Acquisitions 2013. Weil worked on a number of high-profile transactions in the region in 2013 in addition to the Focus Media privatization, including the $2.8 billion proposed take-private of Giant Interactive Group; Apache Corporation’s $3.1 billion sale of a 33% stake in its Egyptian oil and gas business to Sinopec.