Ian C. Ho

Ian Ho is a Partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and a member of the Firm’s Corporate Department, where he focuses on mergers and acquisitions. He advises public and private corporations, private equity firms and other clients on complex cross-border transactions throughout the Asia-Pacific Region.  Ian’s diverse practice encompasses acquisitions, dispositions, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, and minority and strategic investments, among other corporate matters.  Ian’s recent clients have included Alibaba, Ant Financial, Apax, Blackstone, Citigroup Global Markets, Fountainvest, KKR and Silver Lake.

Selected transactions include representations of:

• Calsonic Kansei in the acquisition from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. of its automotive components business Magneti Marelli S.p.A., valued at $7.1 billion 
• Consortium led by KKR in their $1.6 billion take private of LCY Chemical Corp., a company listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange
• KKR in connection with its acquisition of a 60% stake in Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited in India, valuing Ramky at $925 million
• KKR in its joint venture with LS Group to acquire the business of LS Automotive, valued at $924 million
• Alibaba Group Holding in its $5.7 billion going-private transaction involving Youku Tudou, $1.6 billion going-private transaction involving AutoNavi Holdings and investment in Tokopedia in Indonesia
• Ant Financial in multiple strategic transactions in the fintech and e-commerce sectors, including in India (Paytm), Thailand (Ascend Money), Korea (KakaoPay), Indonesia (Emtek), the Philippines (Mynt), Malaysia (Touch ‘n Go), Bangladesh (bKash) and Pakistan (Telenor Microfinance Bank)
• Lexington Partners as lead investor in the acquisition of $1.2 billion of Asia-based portfolio interests from Warburg Pincus
• Fountainvest and Crestview in connection with the $920 million merger of their portfolio company, Key Safety Systems, with Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corporation
• KKR in multiple transactions, including:  leveraged buyouts of MMI ($664 million), Unisteel ($576 million) and Goodpack (S$1.4 billion) in Singapore; $1.26 billion sale of Gland Pharma (and their initial investment in Gland Pharma) and leveraged buyout of Alliance Tires in India; investments in Masan Consumer and Masan Nutri-Science in Vietnam; investment in Weststar Aviation in Malaysia; investments in PT Nippon Indosari and PT Japfa Comfeed in Indonesia; investment in Avendus Capital; creation of the $300 million Emerald Media platform and related investment in CA Media, a fund sponsored by The Chernin Group;  and various real estate investments throughout Asia.
• KKR and Affinity Equity Partners in their $5.8 billion sale of Oriental Brewery in Korea to Anheuser-Busch InBev, and their earlier $1.8 billion acquisition of Oriental Brewery
• Cosmos Bank in its US$760m sale to China Development Financial Holding in Taiwan
• Vingroup in connection with a minority investment by Warburg Pincus in Vincom Retail in Vietnam, valuing Vincom at $1.1 billion
• PAG Asia Capital in connection with its $443 million going–private transaction involving Funtalk China Holdings Limited
• Blum Capital Partners in its investment in PAG in connection with a tender offer to acquire Secured Capital Japan Ltd. in Japan
• Silver Lake Partners in its investments in SenseTime and Spreadtrum Communications
• Goldman Sachs Principal Investments Area in the sale of its stake in C&M Co., Ltd. in Korea
• S.A.C. Private Capital Group in the $1.3 billion recapitalization of Cosmos Bank in Taiwan
• CVCI in its majority investment in Chinfon Cement in Vietnam
• Primus Pacific Partners in its sale of its investment in New China Life Insurance Co.
• KKR in its $29 billion acquisition of First Data Corp.
• The Travelers Companies in its reacquisition of the "umbrella" trademark from Citigroup

Ian has been practicing in the Firm’s Hong Kong office since 2007, after practicing in the New York office from 2005 to 2007. He received his B.Comm. (Accounting) in 1996 from the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Commerce and his J.D., magna cum laude, in 2005 from Fordham University of School of Law where he was Order of the Coif.