Global law firm Hogan Lovells Cadwalader recently announced the addition of Paul Guan (管荣) a former private capital and M&A partner at the Hong Kong office of Kirkland & Ellis. His arrival serves as a significant investment in the private capital and M&A platform of the firm in the Asia-Pacific region following its transformational combination completed in July this year.
Based in Hong Kong Mr. Guan is a highly regarded private capital and M&A lawyer with extensive experience advising private equity sponsors, institutional investors, and financial institutions on complex transactions across the Asia-Pacific region with a particular focus on the real estate industry. His sophisticated transactional practice spans inbound and outbound investments, acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, minority and control investments, asset and property management arrangements, real estate financings, and infrastructure with a particular focus on data centers. During his tenure of over five years at Kirkland & Ellis he led numerous new economy real estate and alternative asset transactions. Highlighting his outstanding market track record in 2023 he represented Bain Capital in establishing a USD 250 million joint venture with DNE Group. In 2021 he co-led the Kirkland & Ellis team in assisting funds managed by Apollo Global Management to form a joint venture with Haoyang Data and Songsheng Capital to acquire the Langfang No. 1 Data Center project.
This appointment reunites Mr. Guan with his former partners David Wang (王圣豪) and Meka Meng (孟庆凯) with whom he has worked closely for more than a decade to build a market-leading private equity and M&A practice in the region. Mr. Wang who practiced at Paul Hastings for nearly 25 years and formerly served as the chair of its Beijing and Shanghai offices alongside Ms. Meng successively joined the Shanghai and Beijing offices of Hogan Lovells in 2025. Prior to his partnership at Kirkland & Ellis Mr. Guan served a long tenure at Paul Hastings acting as the Head of Greater China Real Estate Practice and also served as the Legal Director of Harvest Real Estate Investments. He holds an LL.B., an LL.M. in International Law, and a Ph.D. in Law from East China University of Political Science and Law alongside an LL.M. from Harvard Law School.
James Doyle Global Head of the Corporate and Finance Practice stated that the arrival of Mr. Guan is a significant strategic investment in the global platform of the firm emphasizing that private capital remains a priority. Mr. Doyle noted that his market-leading reputation and relationships with major sponsors will further strengthen the ability of the firm to support clients deploying capital across Asia and internationally. Jacky Scanlan-Dyas Corporate and Finance Practice Group Regional Head for Asia Pacific commented that the practice of Mr. Guan sits at the intersection of private equity and real estate responding directly to the increasingly sophisticated needs of clients investing into, within, and out of the region. Owen Chan (陈爱民) Regional Managing Partner for APAC added that the appointment deepens the Greater China transactional capabilities of the firm and enhances the role of its Hong Kong office as a critical gateway between Greater China, international capital, and regional investment opportunities.
Expressing his enthusiasm Mr. Guan noted that the firm offers a compelling combination of deep roots in Asia Pacific, sophisticated regional capabilities, and an expanded global platform. His arrival builds on the sustained strategic investment of the firm across the region which recently included the addition of banking and loan finance partner Eric Tan (陈伟耀) in Singapore alongside corporate and M&A partners Sugianto Osman and Prasetyo Sukirno in Jakarta through DNFP in association with Hogan Lovells Cadwalader.
