Allen Zhao has over 18 years of legal practice experience. His main area of expertise includes investment, mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance, and financial asset management, and the industries covered include real estate and infrastructure, insurance, and renewable energy.
In the field of investment and M&A, Allen has successfully represented his clients in nearly 1000 investment and mergers and acquisitions projects for both domestic and foreign investors, including many complex transactional projects, and has accumulated rich experience in project operation. Based on a deep understanding of the business demands of both investment and acquisition parties, Allen is competent in providing customized transaction solutions and is skilled at offering creative and practical legal solutions for his clients.
In the field of the renewable energy industry, Allen provides annual retainer service and legal service on project basis for numerous renowned new energy enterprises specializing in photovoltaic, wind power, energy storage, and hydrogen energy industries. Since practicing, Allen has provided legal services (including due diligence, assistance in commercial negotiations, and drafting of transaction documents) for hundreds of new energy acquisition projects for multiple clients.
In the field of financial asset management, Allen has been long-term focused on the research and practice in insurance asset management, private equity funds, trusts, asset securitization, and other asset management businesses. Allen provides legal services to clients in various aspects of investment instrument structuring, establishment, fund raising, investment, restructuring, and operation.
Representative Matters
Renewable Energy
- Advised CLP (a listed company in HK) for its acquisition of new energy projects in China
- Advised Sembcorp for its acquisition of a portfolio of renewable energy projects (including three wind power projects in China) owned by a renowned new energy
- Advised Avenue Capital Group for its acquisition of a portfolio of residential PV projects (268 MW in total for the first batch) located in Henan, Jiangxi, and Jiangsu, owned by Jinko Power
- Advised Cathay Capital on the acquisition of a portfolio of distributed PV projects from a French energy investment group (through a fund, inclusive of insurance LPs). The transaction involved an onshore equity transfer and encompassed approximately 300 rooftop PV projects located in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.
- Advised a leading global asset management company for its acquisition of a portfolio of distributed PV projects (including ground distributed photovoltaic projects and tens of rooftop distributed photovoltaic projects in Anhui, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and other provinces)
- Advised GLP for its acquisition of a 160MW PV project located in Yunnan
- Representing Jinko Solar for its domestic investment and development of new energy power station projects, including centralized photovoltaic power stations, distributed photovoltaic power stations, wind power stations, and energy storage power stations
- Representing YEIG for its acquisition of a photovoltaic asset portfolio from GCL, which involves hundreds of photovoltaic power stations with a total installed capacity of nearly 1GW
- Representing a private fund manager in initiating the establishment of a private equity fund and investing in a commercial and industrial distributed photovoltaic asset portfolio project, which involves nearly 300 projects with a total installed capacity of nearly 600MW
Real Estate
- Representing an insurance private equity fund for its investment in a large-scale complex project in Shanghai, with a total investment exceeding RMB 30 billion
- Representing a leading insurance company for its investment in multiple large-scale commercial office projects in Beijing (Lize, Fengtai), Wuhan, and other cities
- Representing a leading insurance company for its direct or indirect investment in several long-term rental apartment projects in Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, and other cities
- Representing an insurance private equity fund for its investment in a healthcare real estate project in Shanghai
- Representing JD Capital in its investment in a large-scale complex project in Putuo, Shanghai, with a total investment exceeding RMB 10 billion
- Representing Mitsui & Co. for its establishment and formulation of an industrial and logistics real estate platform through offshore structure
- Representing DNE in its investment in the Galaxy No.1 Intelligent Industrial Park project in Jinshan, Shanghai, with a total investment of approximately USD 1.5 billion
- Representing DNE in its investment in a large logistics park project in Beijing Comprehensive Bonded Zone
- Representing Sino-Ocean Capital in its investments in multiple IDC projects in Yanjiao, Chengdu, Wuhan, and other cities
Financial Asset Management
- Representing an insurance company in its issuance of non-fixed-term bonds and capital supplementary bonds
- Representing a private fund manager of an insurance group for its initiating the establishment of a private equity fund project focusing on investments in high-tech, medical, and new energy sectors
- Representing an insurance private fund for its investment in a private equity fund in order to indirectly invest in a new energy asset portfolio
- Representing an insurance asset management company for its initiating the establishment of several private equity funds (including new infrastructure funds, inclusive finance funds, public REITs funds, etc.)
- Representing a real estate asset management company and a well-known real estate development enterprise for their exit from investments in Shanghai and Nanjing through initiating an asset support special plan
Honors and Awards
- Chambers Greater China Region Legal Guide, Insurance (2024&2025) & M&A (2025)
- Chambers Greater Global Guide 2025, M&A
- The Legal 500, Recommended Lawyers (Great China) (2025)
- China Business Law Journal’s The A-List 2024-2025: Growth Drivers
- LEGALBAND 2024, Insurance & M&A
Memberships & Affiliations
- Member of the Mergers and Acquisitions and Restructuring Business Research Committee of the Shanghai Bar Association
