Asia Pacific

We advised on family and business governance for estate planning and succession purposes. This involved preparing Wills and trusts which were compliant with Indian law and also US tax constraints (as there are US citizen beneficiaries), advising on US citizenship and expatriation, advising on corporate and real estate structuring and lifetime gifting, advising on the Family Constitution and establishing a single Family Office for the family.

Represented Blue Ocean Resources Limited (BOR) in the successful restructuring of its US$162,465,275 guaranteed senior secured notes due in 2021 issued by BOR and guaranteed by its IDX-listed parent, PT Central Proteina Prima Tbk (CPRO) and certain of its subsidiaries, by way of a scheme of arrangement in Singapore.

Acted for Alami Technologies on its USD 20 million fundraising led by AC Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, and Quona Capital. Alami Technologies is Indonesia's largest licensed Shariah-compliant peer-to-peer lender, and provides access to Shariah-compliant debt capital for micro, small and medium enterprises in Indonesia, as well as lending opportunities to individuals and financial institutions in Southeast Asia.

Advised regional tech major Grab on its competitive tender for a minority interest in LinkAja, the fourth largest electronic payments platform in Indonesia, and a joint venture between Indonesian state-owned telecommunications company Telkom and Indonesian state-owned banks Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Mandiri.

Advising a Singapore-based fintech company providing digital payment solutions on licensing matters in relation to the new Payment Services Act, and assisting them with their licence applications for a payment services licence

Advised Wavemaker Partners as the lead investor in fintech start-up, CrediBook's Pre-Series A fundraising of USD 1.5 million this year with participation.

We advised the Singapore branch of an international bank and an international school in respect of the grant by the bank of secured banking facilities of S$45million to the school.

We advised in the sale of its leasehold interest in their school premises to another education provider for S$43.3 million.

We advised on the establishment of international schools in Hong Kong.

We advised in respect of their financing from a Singapore bank to acquire state land, to construct and develop a new school building in Singapore.

We advised them on their acquisition of a stand-alone international school in Singapore. The founder of the company is an Indian entrepreneur and Singapore PR, who started this business in India, and has since expanded it to various countries in Asia.

On its USD 20 million fundraising led by AC Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, and Quona Capital. Alami Technologies is Indonesia's largest licensed Shariah-compliant peer-to-peer lender, and provides access to Shariah-compliant debt capital for micro, small and medium enterprises in Indonesia, as well as lending opportunities to individuals and financial institutions in Southeast Asia.

Advised Altara Ventures, a technology venture capital firm investing across Southeast Asia investing in pre-A, Series A and Series B stage companies that build innovation solutions in Fintech, Logistics & Mobility, Consumer, Enterprise Software and Deep Tech, Healthcare and Edtech, in Series A fundraising rounds in two Southeast Asian technology start-ups.

The venture-building arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), in establishing energy management company NaviX Solutions, alongside energy and automation multinational Schneider Electric.

As a lead investor in the US$100 million Series B investment in LinkAja, an Indonesian state-owned e-wallet operator. This was the first investment by a private enterprise into LinkAja and is a landmark transaction for Grab as part of its efforts to consolidate its position in the Indonesian e-wallet /digital payments space.

In drafting the strategic collaboration agreement with a leading venture capital firm in relation to the launch of Grab Ventures Ignite (GVI), the Vietnamese extension of its flagship accelerator programme, Grab Ventures, dedicated to Vietnamese early-stage startups and aimed at encouraging technology entrepreneurship and supporting the growth of Vietnam’s startup ecosystem.

On the proposed combination of the businesses of the two entities into JCH. As transaction counsel, we also act for the clients in the (i) sale by an existing fund manager investor of its post-combination stake in JCH; and (ii) proposed investment into post-combination JCH by Daito Trust, a major Japanese real estate player.

In a round of funding by a global e-commerce platform based in Singapore. The investors included one of the world's largest international mail, shipping and distribution organisations and a venture capital subsidiary owned by an Indonesia listed company.

We advised our client on their international fundraising plans for their alumni.

We assisted a wealthy family based in Malaysia on the drafting and need for a comprehensive Prenuptial Agreement for a member of the family who would be marrying and residing with her husband in Singapore. In the process, we advised and coordinated with Australian family lawyers (Lander & Rogers) who had drafted a Financial Agreement for the couple that was currently staying in Sydney and on the drafting of a binding Prenuptial Agreement that would incorporate certain key provisions from the financial agreement into the Prenuptial Agreement.

which required our team to liaise with the Australian High Commission.

an Australian tourist. This case is notable in that the Plaintiff made an unusual claim for loss of opportunity to be a commercial pilot based on 6 hours of flying and quantified his claim for loss of future earnings at $6.7 million. After 5 days of trial, the Plaintiff caved in and eventually accepted a sum of $720,000.

in its debt restructuring exercise in relation to its S$110 million 7.45% p.a. notes, issued under the S$350 million multi-currency debt issuance programme. The restructuring exercise involved extensive engagements with bondholders and their advisers regarding various restructuring options with respect to the notes, the granting of security interests over the group's assets in an Australian port to secure the issuer's obligations under the restructured notes, and the resolution of ongoing litigation commenced by an Australian environmental non-governmental organisation over the port operations. The AusGroup notes restructuring was one of the first successfully completed notes restructuring in Singapore's recent wave of bond defaults, and has been held up as a model for bond restructuring.

based on professional negligence against an established law firm and its former solicitor. The claim is based on the failure to advise adequately or at all that a transaction pursuant to which the Plaintiff, a Singaporean, agreed to purchase and hold a landed property in Singapore on behalf of his cousin, an Australian, was unlawful and exposed the Plaintiff to imprisonment, a fine and a confiscation order for an amount equivalent to the whole sale proceeds.

in the business of online job matching services in its initial set up of various business agreements.

The monumental ICO broke several records, being the largest ICO featured on the Binance Launchpad, with 10.2 BNB committed, USD 4.2 billion committed and 201,406 participants in total. Tokocrypto is the first regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Indonesia, and the first Indonesian digital assets exchange to be invested by a global exchange (Binance). We have also been advising Tokocrypto on its Indonesian operations

with regards to investments in the APAC region in real estate using Singapore as the investment platform into the region.

in the formation of a UK joint venture with an Australian listed property company for the development of a residential project in London.

on the basis that Australia was the more appropriate jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal considered the factors the court should bear in mind when dealing with such challenges. At the time, it was a landmark case and is regularly quoted to this day on the topic of forum non conveniens.

Acting for a cult skincare company based in Singapore in the protection of their trade marks and the management of their trade mark portfolio worldwide.

Acted for a household name with over a hundred years history in Singapore in a High Court suit for passing off and breach of contract, as well as trade mark invalidation and opposition proceedings at the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. We successfully secured an interim injunction at the High Court restraining their former business partner and affiliated entities from using our client's Chinese name on similar services.

Acted for a Japanese conglomerate in the food industry and successfully seized over a thousand counterfeit items in a collaborative raid with the Singapore Police Force.

Acting for a leading consumer internet company in Southeast Asia in the protection of their trade marks and the management of their trade mark portfolio worldwide.

Acting for a leading US-headquartered company that manufactures electronic measurement equipment and software in defending a trade mark opposition in Singapore.

Acting for a leading bakery chain in Singapore, in the protection of their trade marks and management of their trade mark portfolio in the Asia Pacific region. We are also advising the client on issues arising from trade mark squatting by third parties in Indonesia.

Successfully acted for LG Electronics Inc. in an opposition by Beats Electronics, LLC against an application to register the trade mark ‘QuadBeat’ in Singapore.

Acting for the owner and operator of the prestigious educational institution with campuses in Singapore, India, Japan, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, in the worldwide protection of their trade marks and in various trade mark enforcement proceedings in India.

Acting for one of South East Asia's leading manufacturer and marketers of personal care products in the worldwide protection of their trade marks and on over 50 contentious trade mark proceedings across Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Successfully acted for an opportunistic private investment fund in a distressed acquisition deal where the fund acquired S$20 million non-performing loan of a Singapore-based hospitality company and we assisted in the eventual enforcement of a mortgage over the property and distressed sale of the borrower's main hospitality real estate asset.

Advised PAG on its negotiation of a management agreement and related documentation for Fairfield by Marriott hotel located in Osaka.

Acted for a consortium comprising SGX-listed Datapulse Technology Ltd and Pam Holdings I, in the S$235 million acquisition of the Bay Hotel Singapore (now rebranded as Travelodge Harbourfront Singapore).

Acted for Soho House in relation to a negotiation for a grant of lease from Ever Crown Development Limited , the landlord to operate, inter alia, a club, a hotel, a gymnasium and a "Soho Works" workspace in respect to a site at Hong Kong.

We advised Delfi Limited, a well-known manufacturer of chocolate confectionery products in Indonesia, on the co-branding of their products with Walt Disney characters and the protection of their intellectual property in the co-branding campaign.

We acted for PT General Energy Bali, the owner of a coal-fired power plant situated in Bali, as the lead counsel throughout an entire project; and advised an Indonesian company on a joint venture coal-fired power plant project in Indonesia, including project financing.

Successfully represented an Indonesian energy and infrastructure company in an International Chamber of Commerce emergency arbitration to preserve client's multimillion dollar funds in a dispute over power plants in Indonesia.

We advised Grab as a lead investor in the US$100 million Series B investment in LinkAja, an Indonesian state-owned e-wallet operator. This was the first investment by a private enterprise into LinkAja, and one of the very rare instances of private investment into Indonesian state-owned enterprises generally. This is also a landmark transaction for Grab and an important part of its efforts to consolidate its position in the Indonesian e-wallet /digital payments space.

We acted for PT PLTG Celukan Bawang, owner of a power plant project located in Bali, Indonesia, as the lead counsel on its joint venture and cooperation with Chinese conglomerate Shanghai Electric Group Co. Ltd, in developing, building and owning a gas-fired power plant in Indonesia valued over US$1.3 billion. These are key projects along Indonesia’s Comprehensive Economic Corridor within the Belt and Road Initiative.

We also advised PT Atlas Resources Tbk on the company's non-domestic matters since its inception, from initial fundraising to IPO, and ongoing acquisitions, disposals and financing matters.

We acted for leading Indonesian coal trading business and coal shipping company, Resources Global Development Limited, in its successful initial public offering on the Catalist Board of the Singapore Exchange, which is coincidentally also Singapore’s first IPO of 2020.

We acted for Blue Ocean Resources Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of PT Central Proteina Prima Tbk, a vertically integrated shrimp producer group listed on the IDX, in a successful application to the Singapore High Court to sanction the restructuring of bonds of an aggregate principal amount of US$325 million by way of a scheme of arrangement.

We acted for the Wipro Unza Group in a series of trademark oppositions in the Southeast Asia region.

We assisted a local Hong Kong client who runs a crypto assets trading company with his pre-UK immigration tax and residence planning and Hong Kong profits tax analysis. The trading company is based in an offshore jurisdiction with servers across the world. From a UK perspective, we provided advice on management and control issues of overseas companies, how Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will tax transactions involving crypto assets trading that are undertaken by companies as well as how HMRC tax individuals who own crypto assets. We analysed these issues alongside the client’s personal tax and residence issues to ensure coherent planning that takes into account personal planning and the crypto business planning.

From a Hong Kong perspective, we provided tax and regulatory advice and analysed under what circumstances the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department would tax profits made by the offshore trading company and whether the trading requires prior authorisation from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

In its private investment in a PRC-based open-source, cloud-native, distributed SQL database provider.

Advised a Singapore medical technology start up on deployment of medical database systems and cross licensing with US principal on trials with the SingHealth cluster.

On the creation and funding of an offshore trust structure, transactions with a US trust structure, creation of a Hong Kong charity, and advised on setting up a US charitable foundation.

On the Singapore taxation of income to be derived through high frequency proprietary trading activities.

On privacy and data issues concerning processing and international transfer of personal data concerning data subjects in Singapore.

On its development and licensing partnership between a Silicon Valley based semiconductor company and its strategic partner in Zhuhai, China.

On the sale of US$30 million of common stock to U.S. and Japanese strategic and financial investors.

On its software development project incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the program. Special considerations including legal compliance with the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Guidelines on Outsourcing we considered.

On the acquisition of mobile traffic technology from a U.S. company.

On their contract with their vendor for HR system.

in Cyprus on the intra-group transfer of its IP rights to its Singapore company.

On its acquisition of a majority stake in a Hong Kong-based digital consultancy company.

On relation to his relocation to the UK prior to a significant liquidity event. This involved complex pre-immigration UK tax planning, including the disposal and restructuring of several significant assets before becoming resident, the reorganization of multiple bank accounts with multiple banks to provide for tax efficient remittances to the UK, and the creation of a trust for his wife and children.

focusing on promising consumer-sector businesses in Asia in respect of their acquisition of a master licence for the Indian sub-continent from an Indonesian group in respect of their patented technology in the field of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).

A marketplace app unifying four different mobility partners into a single app. We assisted the client in setting the template for its partnership agreement with other mobility partners. This matter was of particular significance as it marks Grab's efforts to offer a suite of multi-modal transport offerings and to test new mobility and payment concepts.

The Vietnamese extension of its flagship accelerator programme, Grab Ventures, dedicated to Vietnamese early-stage startups and aimed at encouraging technology entrepreneurship and supporting the growth of Vietnam’s startup ecosystem.

A data technology and analytics company based in Singapore, on their software licence agreements, service level agreements, value added reseller agreements, and collaborations with third parties (such as financial institutions) in the Asia-Pacific region.

On its potential commercialisation initially in Hong Kong and then potentially throughout Asia

A software company based in California, US, on the acquisition of email integration technology and associated customer contracts from a Singapore start-up, Collabspot, and also worked on the contracts for the transaction.

A leading cloud service provider, on product compliance matters, including: Certification requirements in Singapore for new cloud short message service, including telecommunications licensing requirements; material regulatory and legal risks in offering the service in Singapore, including requirements to allow local government or state access to communications or data.

Headquartered in Singapore, in its acquisition by Wahoo Fitness, a US-based leader in connected fitness devices.

Acting for a sovereign fund (seller) with regard to disposal of all their shares in a BVI company to Middle Eastern HNWIs.

Advice in connection with a controlling interest in a distribution business in the consumer goods sector.

Assisting one of the wealthiest billionaire families in South East Asia with general estate and succession planning, such as the establishment of a private trust company and trusts for succession planning, the management of novel legacy trust issues, the establishment of a family office in and a holding structure for their international investments to be managed by the family office.

Setting up the brand protection practice for a leading company in the fashion industry and advising the client on the day by day IP activities such as, managing civil, criminal actions, custom monitoring, parallel imports issues and coordination of counsels in several countries (including China, US, and other EU countries).

We have handled one of the largest cheating cases under the Casino Control Act in Singapore, where an individual was accused of cheating Marina Bay Sands Casino of a sum of S$1.4 million.

Our team in Singapore successfully defending a Director of Singapore Technologies from corruption charges.