Latham & Watkins has announced the addition of Grace Huang and Edward Freeman as partners in its Hong Kong office, a move that strengthens the firm’s capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity capabilities across the region.
Grace Huang arrives after a long tenure at Freshfields, where she built her practice in Hong Kong beginning in 2006 and earned partnership status three years later. Prior to her time at Freshfields, she accumulated extensive experience at leading international firms, having worked at Clifford Chance, Allen & Gledhill and Baker McKenzie starting in 1999. Her expertise centers on Asian equity capital markets and merger‑and‑acquisition work, with a particular focus on complex listing structures such as dual and triple primary listings, secondary listings, and special purpose acquisition companies, as well as listings for overseas issuers.
Among the high‑profile transactions she has led, Huang advised the pan‑Asian insurer FWD Group on a Hong Kong initial public offering that raised USD 445 million, and she headed the team that guided Synagistics through its business combination with HK Acquisition Corporation, culminating in the city’s first de‑SPAC listing.
Edward Freeman joins Latham after more than two decades at Freshfields, where he was raised to partner in Hong Kong in 2012 and later directed the firm’s Asia practice group for its global M&A and capital markets operations. In his new role, he becomes part of Latham’s M&A and private equity practice, bringing a deep bench of experience in public‑company transactions.
Related: BVI seeks investment from India
Freeman’s portfolio includes advising on detailed cross‑border takeovers, privatisations, and contested deals, representing a diverse client base that spans corporations, private‑capital investors, financial intermediaries and insurers. His strategic counsel has been sought on landmark transactions, notably the privatisation of ESR Group valued at USD 7 billion, orchestrated by a consortium of financial investors, and the acquisition of Amer Sports, a deal worth EUR 4.6 billion (approximately USD 5.4 billion), led by ANTA Sports together with FountainVest.
Posit Laohaphan, managing partner of Latham’s Asia offices, said in a press release: “We are delighted to welcome Grace and Ed to the firm. Not only do they have highly complementary practices, but their experience and strong synergies with our platform in Asia and globally will further enhance our market‑leading transactional offering across capital markets and public M&A.”
The integration of Huang’s capital‑markets acumen and Freeman’s public‑M&A expertise is expected to deepen Latham’s service breadth, allowing the firm to deliver more sophisticated advisory solutions to clients pursuing complex financing structures, cross‑border mergers, and large‑scale privatisations throughout Asia and beyond.
