Yiming Liu

Yiming Liu is partner in charge of Cooley's Shanghai office. He advises life sciences, healthcare and technology companies in strategic transactions, including IPOs in Hong Kong and the US, cross-border M&A, venture capital financings, joint ventures, and licensing and collaboration agreements. Yiming has an academic background in life sciences, and has practiced corporate law in New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai. 

For each of 2024 and 2025, Yiming was recognized as one of the "Dealmakers of Asia" by Thomson Reuters, Asian Legal Business (ALB), and was shortlisted as “Dealmaker of the Year” (International Firm) by ALB’s China Law Awards. For each of 2024-2026, he was named a “Growth Driver” by China Business Law Journal (CBLJ) and included in “The A-List” elite lawyers in China. In the life sciences sector in particular, Yiming has been ranked as a “Leading Partner” for Life Sciences and Healthcare in China (Foreign Firm) in the Legal 500 Asia Pacific rankings for 2025-2026, and was shortlisted as "Life Sciences and Healthcare Lawyer of the Year" (Foreign Firm) by The Legal 500 China Awards in 2024 and 2025. In addition, he has also been ranked as a "Highly Regarded” lawyer for Capital Markets, M&A, and Private Equity practices in China (Foreign Firm) in the International Financial Law Review (IFLR1000) 2024 Asia Pacific rankings. 

Yiming is a native Mandarin speaker and is fluent in English. 

Representative Matters:

Capital Markets (Hong Kong)

• Asymchem’s US$979 million IPO (the largest healthcare Hong Kong IPO in 2021)
• RemeGen’s US$515 million IPO (the world’s largest biopharmaceutical IPO in 2020)
• Innovent Biologics’ US$421 million IPO (the largest biotech Hong Kong IPO in 2018)
• Keymed Biosciences’ US$400 million IPO 
• Akeso Biopharma’s US$383 million IPO, and HK$1.2 billion, HK$1.9 billion and HK$3.97 billion follow-on offerings
• Brii Biosciences’ US$320 million IPO
• Hygeia Healthcare’s US$286 million IPO
• Jacobio Pharmaceuticals’ US$174 million IPO; and HK$160.4 million post-IPO placing
• Leads Biolabs’ US$164 million IPO 
• Bao Pharmaceuticals’ US$128 million IPO
• VISEN Pharmaceuticals' US$101 million IPO
• Innogen Pharmaceuticals’ US$87.43 million IPO 
• Jiuyuan Gene Engineering’s US$72.5 million IPO
• ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals’ US$41 million IPO; and HK$234 million placing
• YZY Biopharma’s US$22.4 million IPO
• Proposed/ongoing IPO of: Axbio International, Betta Pharmaceuticals, Binhui Biopharm, Biokin Pharmaceuticals, Eccogene, Highlightll Pharma, ImmVira Biosciences, InxMed, Impact Therapeutics, Lannacheng Biotechnologies, Shukun Technology, Shulan Health, Sunshine Mandi Pharmaceutical, etc.
• Morgan Stanley, CICC and GF Securities in Insilico Medicine’s US$292 million IPO (the largest biotech Hong Kong IPO in 2025)
• Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, CITIC, CICC and CMB International in Duality Bio’s HK$1.64 billion IPO
• Morgan Stanley and CICC in Simcere Pharmaceutical’s US$461 million IPO
• Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in CStone Pharmaceuticals’ US$285 million IPO
• Morgan Stanley and CICC in Taimei Technologies’ HK$335 million IPO
• CICC in Laekna Therapeutics' US$101 million IPO
• CICC and SPDB Int'l in BrainAurora Medical Technology's HK$583 million IPO
• Citi Bank and Huatai Int'l in Cryofocus Medtech’s HK$210 million IPO
• Underwriters in the proposed/ongoing Hong Kong IPO of EpimAb Biotherapeutics, Insight Lifetech, Sciwind Biosciences, TriApex Laboratories, etc.

Capital Markets (US)

• Advanced Accelerator Applications in its proposed IPO and listing on Nasdaq
• CooTek in its US$57 million IPO and listing on the NYSE
• Deutsche Bank and Piper Jaffray as joint book-running managers in TCP International Holdings Ltd.’s US$73 million IPO and listing on NYSE
• An AI-assisted drug development company in its proposed IPO and listing on Nasdaq
• A small molecule immunology biotech in its proposed IPO and listing on Nasdaq

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Chimagen Biosciences in its agreement to sell CMG1A46, a clinical-stage dual CD19 and CD20-targeted T-cell engager (TCE), to GSK with US$300 million upfront and US$500 million development and commercial milestone payments
• Asymchem Laboratories in its acquisition of the API Pilot Plant and R&D Laboratory at the Pfizer UK Sandwich Site, marking the establishment of Asymchem's first Europe-based R&D and manufacturing hub 
• Brii Biosciences (HKSE: 2137) in its agreements with VBI Vaccines (NASDAQ: VBIV) to acquire the IP for BRII-179 (VBI-2601), the manufacturing capabilities and assets of manufacturing facility in Rehovot, Israel, and an exclusive license to develop and commercialize VBI-1901 in Asia Pacific excluding Japan
• Asymchem in its agreement to acquire Snapdragon Chemistry, Inc., a US technology company
• Roche in its proposed acquisition of a US-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
• Didi Chuxing in its US$35 billion merger with Uber China
• Apex Technology as a consortium leader in the US$4 billion acquisition of Lexmark International
• Summit Healthcare Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SMIH) in its de-SPAC transaction with Yisheng Bio Co., Ltd.
• Baidu in proposed acquisition of a European multinational tech business
• BATS Global Markets in its US$365 million acquisition of Hotspot FX, a leading institutional spot foreign exchange market, from New Jersey-based financial services firm KCG Holdings
• Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance in its US$370 million acquisition of Engine Lease Finance Corporation and Beacon Intermodal Leasing from The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ
• Roper Technologies in its acquisition of Illinois-based RF IDeas, which was one of two concurrently announced acquisitions with a combined purchase price of US$277 million
• Roper Technologies in its proposed acquisition of a European tech company
• First Data Corp in its proposed acquisition of a US finance company
• EBX Group in its proposed sale of mining division and debt restructuring
• Comcast in its proposed acquisition of a US communications company
• Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division (GS MBD) in its proposed acquisition of a US-based online finance company
• iRay Technology in its proposed acquisition of a US-based medical imaging technology company
• QST and SummitView Capital in its proposed acquisition of a US-based tech company

Private Equity / Venture Capital

• Aureka Therapeutics in its Series A financing totaling tens of millions of dollars
• Angitia in its US$120 million Series C financing
• Chimagen Biosciences in its Series B financing led by Foresite Capital and Lilly Asia Ventures
• D3 Bio in its US$62 million Series A+ financing
• Lupeng Pharmaceutical in its US$35 million Series Pre-B financing
• Pulnovo Medical in its financing round totaling tens of millions of dollars
• JHL Biotech in its spin-off and US$125 million private financing of its manufacturing business
• Lilly Asia Ventures in its participation in the Series B financing of ArriVent Biopharma that raised US$155 million
• Didi Chuxing in its SoftBank-led US$5.5+ billion private financing round 
• Huya in its US$461.6 million investment by Tencent
• Megvii (Face++) in its US$460 million Series C financing round
• ByteDance (Toutiao) in leading a private financing round of India’s news and content aggregator DailyHunt that raised US$25 million
• TalkingData in its Series F financing round
• Crestview Partners in various private equity transactions in the US, including the investment in its portfolio company Key Safety Systems, a Michigan-based company that develops and manufactures automotive safety systems, by FountainVest Partners
• Tailwind Capital in the sale of ReTrans, a leading US non-asset brokerage provider of intermodal transportation, to Switzerland-based Kuehne+Nagel, one of the world's leading logistics companies with a focus on providing information technology-based integrated logistics solutions
• GGV Capital in leading the US$17.5 million Series B financing of Privy, an Indonesian tech company
• CPE in its investment in Acotec Scientific
• YF Capital in its investment in WuXi Diagnostics
• YF Capital in its investment in Cellular Biomedicine Group (CBMG)
• Ocean Link in its investment in various tourism companies  
• Warburg Pincus in its proposed investment in an education company

Corporate Partnering and Licensing

• Earendil Labs in its US$2.56 billion strategic collaboration with Sanofi to apply Earendil's discovery platform to multiple autoimmune and inflammatory disease programs
• A newly incorporated entity in its agreement to obtain from a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company an exclusive license to develop, manufacture, commercialize a phosphate transporter inhibitor in the world (excl. Greater China)
  
• A platform-based biotechnology company in the sale of its payload-platform assets to a global leading pharmaceutical company 
• Phrontline Biopharma in its global collaboration agreement with Samsung Bioepis to develop, manufacture and commercialize two ADC assets: TJ108, bispecific and dual-payload ADC, and another asset to be named
• Argo Biopharma in its multi-asset license and option agreements with Novartis for novel molecules for cardiovascular diseases
• Earendil Labs (Helixon Therapeutics) in its US$1.845 billion worldwide exclusive license agreement with Sanofi for two potential first-in-class bispecific antibodies in the field of autoimmune and inflammatory bowel diseases
• Beihai Biotech in its strategic partnership with Zydus Lifesciences to grant exclusive commercialization rights for BEIZRAY® in the US market
• Laekna in its clinical collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company to accelerate the development of LAE102
• Qiming Venture Partners in its formation of and investment into Vignette Bio (NewCo) , a clinical-stage NewCo, with Foresite Capital, Samsara Biocapital, and Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, and in Vignette Bio’s licensing agreement with EpimAb Biotherapeutic for its BCMA-targeting T-cell engager (TCE) EMB-06
• FutureGen Biopharmaceutical in its license agreement with AbbVie to develop FG-M701, a next generation TL1A antibody for the treatment of IBD currently in preclinical development
• A Chinese innovative pharmaceutical company in its asset licensing and equity financing agreements with a NewCo formed by a US venture capital firm
• Akeso in its amendment of collaboration and license agreement with Summit Therapeutics for Akeso’s proprietary bispecific antibody ivonescimad (AK112) to expand the license territories to include Latin America, Middle East and Africa
• Allorion Therapeutics in its exclusive option and global license agreement with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize a novel epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) L858R mutated allosteric inhibitor 
• Impact Therapeutics in its global license and collaboration agreement with Eikon Therapeutics for PARP1 selective inhibitors including IMP1734
• Zion Pharma in Roche’s acquisition of global rights to ZN-A-1041 (a blood-brain-barrier-penetrant oral HER2 TKI)
• Rona Therapeutics in its collaboration with Keymed Biosciences to jointly discover and develop first-in-class siRNA therapeutics for glomerulonephritis (also referred as severe kidney diseases)
• InnoRNA in its global strategic collaboration with BeiGene to develop mRNA-LNP therapeutics 
• JD.com and JD Finance in the US$500 million joint ventures for ecommerce and fintech services in Thailand with Thailand’s largest retail conglomerate Central Group and Provident Capital
• Vivo Capital in forming a joint venture, Visirna Therapeutics, with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARWAR) and subsequent license agreement for exclusive rights to develop and commercialize four of Arrowhead’s RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics in Greater China
• Beijing Anitech Biotechnology in the joint venture for the production and sale of premium quality research models and services in China with The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) 
• Akeso Biopharma in its collaboration agreement with Pfizer 
• RemeGen in its patent licensing and collaboration agreement with SeaGen (f/k/a Seattle Genetics)
• Innovent Biologics in its technology license agreement with certain European research institutions
• Roche in its research collaboration and licensing arrangements with, and purchase of an option to acquire, Janus Biotherapeutics, a Boston-based biopharmaceutical company, for the development of a small molecule toll-like receptor (TLR) inhibitor for the treatment of autoimmune diseases
• A small molecule cancer biotech in its proposed collaboration agreement with a multinational pharmaceutical company
• A gene therapy biotech in its proposed collaboration agreement with another biotech company
• A vaccine developer in its proposed collaboration agreement with a biotech company
• A US-based biotech company in its proposed joint venture and R&D collaboration agreement with a well-known pharmaceutical investment fund