Deacons' Landmark Deal with Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong (SCB)

January, 2007 - Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Finance Partner Lam Wing Wo and Entertainment and Media Senior Associate Michael Leow recently advised Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong (SCB) on the bank’s (and probably Asia’s) first of its kind film financing project “Curse of the Golden Flower” directed by Zhang Yimou. Produced by Asia’s top producer Bill Kong, this million dollar star studded film stars Chow Yun Fat, Gong Li and Taiwanese singer Jay Chou, and is China’s nomination for the best foreign language film category in the upcoming 2007 Oscars. This ground breaking deal was a break-through transaction at many different levels: it introduced for the first time international and sophisticated legal structures and documentation for bank film financing in Hong Kong; it introduced SCB as the first Asian bank to provide production financing based on financing models normally seen on US and European deals; it emphasised the “internationalisation” of the film business in Asia and reinforced Hong Kong as a place of creative deal making; and it paved the way for local (and overseas) filmmakers to access alternative local funding for their films.

The driving force behind the deal was SCB’s newly formed Creative Industries Team headed by Susan Ho. The Team includes Lee Beasley who heads-up the Media & Entertainment sector within the Team and Ella Li, the Team’s China expert.

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