Sidley Austin LLP is best known for its strong relationship with Chinese real estate issuers and offers advice on straight bond offerings as well as perpetual securities, convertible and exchangeable bonds. Carrie Li acts for both issuers and underwriters in debt restructuring matters, investment grade and high yield debt issuances. Matthew Sheridan retired in May 2025, and Renee Xiong left the firm in October 2025.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Accolades
Client satisfaction
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘The team has been the market leader in the PRC property sector. ’
‘The debt financing team of Sidley Austin operated with remarkable efficiency and responsiveness. They were consistently ahead of deadlines, proactive in communication. Their deep market knowledge helped us to achieve a very good results in the financing terms.'
Key clients
- Alibaba Group Holding Limited
- China Ruyi Holding Limited
- China Water Affairs Group Limited
- Easy Tactic Limited
- Fosun International Limited
- Ganglong China Property Group Limited
- Guangdong – Hong Kong Greater Bay Area Holdings Limited
- Guangzhou R&F Properties Co., Ltd.
- Helenbergh China Holdings Limited
- Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd.
- Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited
- Shimao Group Holdings Limited
Work highlights
Represented the underwriters in the US$5 billion dual-currency notes issuance by Alibaba Group.
Representing Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. in its offering of approximately US$12.3 billion of multiple series of HY notes and mandatory convertible bonds due 2028 to 2032 as part of its offshore debt restructuring, which was implemented through dual parallel schemes of arrangement in Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands.
Represented Sino-Ocean Group Holding Limited in its offering of approximately US$6 billion high-yield notes, loan, the MCB and perpetual securities as part of its offshore debt restructuring.
Other key lawyers
Carrie Li