中国平安收购深圳发展银行股权的交易已成为众人瞩目的焦点。在此次交易中，欧华律师事务所为平安提供相关香港法律服务，德恒律师事务所则为平安的中国法律顾问。

作为交易的一部分，平安将受让目前深发展第一大股东新桥资本所持该银行增发前总股本16.76% 的股份。由合伙人周志峰带领的方达律师事务所团队正在为新桥提供法律服务。2004年，该团队协助新桥入股深发展并成为该银行的第一大股东。

交易目前还待审批。交易完成后，中国平安合计持有不超过深发展增发后总股本的30%，成为其第一大股东。

A year after its eventful US$3.5bn investment in Fortis, Ping An Insurance Group is making another multi-billion-dollar purchase. This time, the target is a national bank headquartered and listed in Shenzhen - Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB), and the transaction has a price tag of no less than US$1.5bn.

Last year, Ping An appointed White & Case to assist in its investment in Fortis. For the proposed acquisition of a stake in SDB, the company has instructed DLA Piper as its international legal advisor and DeHeng (Beijing) Law Offices as its PRC legal advisor.

Partner Mabel Lui and Consultant Brett Stewein are leading the DLA Piper team, while the DeHeng (Beijing)team is headed by Shenzhen-based partner Liu Zhenguo and Deng Yun. Both Liu and Deng were involved in Ping An Trust & Investment's acquisition of a stake in Taizhou Commercial Bank in 2008.

As part of the transaction, Ping An will acquire a 16.7% stake in the issued shares of SDB from Newbridge Capital. Newbridge, a private equity fund under TPG, the former Texas Pacific Group, is SDB's largest shareholder.

A team of Fangda Partners, let by partner Jonathan Zhou, is assisting Newbridge in exiting its investment in SDB. The same team acted for Newbridge in 2004, when the private equity fund acquired a controlling stake in SDB.

The completion of the transaction is pending on government approvals. Upon completion, Ping An will hold in total no more than 30% of SDB's shares and move a step closer to its goal of becoming an integrated financial services conglomerate.

In 2007, the insurance giant completed its takeover of Shenzhen Commercial Bank and the group's strong in-house department, led by chief legal officer and secretary of the board James Yao, has assisted the company in the whole process without any external legal support.

A recent study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) showed that 68% of respondents in China will be making an acquisition either domestically or overseas in the year ahead.

Domestic financial services companies have been some of the most acquisitive in Asia. After cleaning up their balance sheets and taking on foreign investors, many conducted IPOs and followed them with one of the largest foreign buying sprees on record. Some of the more notable deals were China Merchant Bank's takeover of Hong Kong bank Wing Lung for US$4.6bn, ICBC's US$5.5bn acquisition of 20% of Standard Bank and Minsheng Bank's purchase of up to 20% of US bank UCBH Holdings.