Fangda Partners has announced that its senior partner, Jonathan Zhou, who also chairs the firm’s management committee, has decided to step down from his management position. He will join Ant Financial as chief legal officer.

Zhou has extensive experience in corporate and M&A and private equity. He was also ranked as Elite practitioner on asialaw Leading Lawyer 2020. Some of his representative matters include advising The Blackstone Group on its approximately $600 million investment in China Bluestar Corporation and representing Bain Capital and Huawei in their attempted acquisition of 3Com Corporation.

According to a press release, Zhou commented: “It has truly been a privilege for me to have worked with so many of my talented colleagues and to have been able to bring the firm to where we are today. But I feel this is the right time for me to make a change and embrace new challenges. From the firm’s perspective, I am confident that, with the strong foundation we have built together, the firm is also well positioned to embrace changes.”