Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

Plus:
The thing about ...
Philip Wood CBE

Covid-19
Macau’s impact
alleviation bonds| MAGAZINE FOR THE IN-HOUSE COMMUNITY ALONG THE NEW SILK ROAD |In-House Insights
Sigrid Wettwer of
DNV GLFeature contributors
Nick Ferguson – Managing Editor
nick.ferguson@inhousecommunity.com
Leo Yeung –­ Design Manager
leo.yeung@inhousecommunity.com

Jimmy Haoula is managing partner at BSA. Based in Dubai, he specialises in corporate, M&A, commercial and real estate transactions and has more than two decadesof experience in the region.

Wendy Chan –­ Global Head of Events
wendy.chan@inhousecommunity.com
Rahul Prakash – Publisher
rahul.prakash@inhousecommunity.com
Yvette Tan – Head of Research andCommunity Development
yvette.tan@inhousecommunity.com
Yannie Cheung – Office Administrator
yannie.cheung@inhousecommunity.com

Mengyun Qiu is a senior attorney-at-law at AllBright. She graduated from Columbia
University in the City of New York with an LLM degree and East China Universityof Political Science and Law with an LLB degree. Qiu has both PRC bar and New
York bar qualifications and is registered at the Supreme Court of the State of New
York as a legal consultant (China). Her main practice areas are foreign direct investment, outbound direct investment, offshore capital and debt markets and cross-borderdispute resolution.

Tim Gilkison – Founding Director
tim.gilkison@inhousecommunity.com
Patrick Dransfield ­– Publishing Director
patrick.dransfield@inhousecommunity.com
Arun Mistry – Director
Editorial Enquiries
Tel:........................ (852) 2542 4279
editorial@inhousecommunity.com
Advertising & Subscriptions
Tel: ....................... (852) 2542 1225
rahul.prakash@inhousecommunity.com

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ISSN 2223-8697

About the IN-HOUSE COMMUNITY
A mutually supportive community of In-House Counsel helping In-House Counsel and Compliance
Professionals meet their ethical, legal and business commitments and responsibilities within
their organisations.
The In-House Community comprises over 20,000 individual in-house lawyers and those with a
responsibility for legal and compliance issues within organisations along the New Silk Road, who wereach through the annual In-House Congress circuit of events, Asian-mena Counsel magazine andWeekly Briefing, and the In-House Community online forum.

Empowering In-House Counsel along the New Silk RoadIn this issue

Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

COVER STORY

22 Asian-mena Counsel’s review of the top transactions
and matters that closed during 2019
JURISDICTION UPDATESKey legal developments affecting the In-House Community along the New Silk Road
4
		

06

08

6

The Omnibus Law on Job Creation
		By Yohanes Masengi and Benedicta Frizka of Makarim & Taira S

8Coping with Covid-19
		By Tiffany Ann L Dy of ACCRALAW

10

Recent revisions to the “Three Data Laws” on privacy protection
		in South Korea
By Mi-Jeong Oh of Dentons Lee

		
12
		
2 www.inhousecommunity.com

Boon for investors as Zimbabwe enacts new investment promotion law
By George Gapu of Scanlen & Holderness Legal Practitioners

New regulations on automobile transport business
By Ha Hai and Phan Minh of bizconsult Law Firm

14 Offshore Update:
Registering private funds with CIMA
By Piers Alexander of Conyers

10

15 THE BRIEFING
Along with the latest moves and jobs, we take a closer look at Bankof China’s Covid-19 impact alleviation bonds in Macau and review ourMiddle East event in Dubai
19 SPOTLIGHT ON CIA(COLLECTIONS, INVESTIGATIONS & AUDIT)

Computer forensics and the rise of the drone
Drone forensics will likely remain a fluid topic with more challenges
relating to these flying computers and investigations of the devices that
control them, writes Law In Order digital forensics lead David Kerstjens

12

SPECIAL FEATURE
30 M&A in the UAE & KSA — The evolving legal landscapeThe outlook for acquisition activity in the region is positive, though much
will depend on the impact of Covid-19, writes Jimmy Haoula, BSA Ahmad
Bin Hezeem & Associates

14

32 The influence of the Foreign Investment Law on foreign-invested
enterprises
China’s foreign investment management regime has become more liberaland flexible, writes Mengyun Qiu of AllBright
35 In-House Insights
Sigrid Wettwer
We speak to the head of group legal for the Middle East & Asia Pacific at DNV
GL, the world’s largest classification society, about change, technology andrunning a lean and efficient legal organisation

35

38 THE THING ABOUT…
Philip Wood
The former head of banking at Allen & Overy discusses the future of law andthe relationship between in-house and external lawyers
43 Asian-mena Counsel Direct
Important contact details at your fingertips

38

Asian-mena Counsel is grateful for the continued editorial contributions of:Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

3

JURISDICTION UPDATESAFRICA

By George Gapu

Scanlen & Holderness Legal Practitioners,
13th Floor CABS Centre,
74 Jason Moy Avenue, Harare
Tel: (263) 4 702 561-9
E: gapug@scanlen.co.zw

Boon for investors as Zimbabwe enacts
new investment promotion law

O

n February 7, 2020 the Zimbabwe
Government gazetted the long-awaited
Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency
Act (Chapter 14;37). The new law comes inagainst the backdrop of promoting the ease of
doing business in the country. Zimbabwe currently ranks 140 on the World Bank ease of doing
business index and it is hoped that the new law
will remove some of the red tape and bottlenecks
impeding investment in the country. The major
objectives of the law are to promote and facilitate
investment in the country.
The law establishes a One Stop Investment
Services Centre (OSISC). This will be presided
over by the Zimbabwe Investment andDevelopment Agency (ZIDA) whose functions
include investment promotion and coordination,
assisting investors and facilitating entry and implementation of investment projects.
The OSISC will have desks for all the relevant
government departments dealing with investment.
The law provides for non-discrimination
between foreign and domestic investors save forreserved areas. Similarly, foreign investors fromdifferent countries shall be accorded equal treatment save for resolution of investment disputes
provided for in international investment treaties
and trade agreements.
Section 16 of the Act provides for fair andequitable treatment of investors. No investor shallbe denied justice in criminal, civil or administrative
proceedings in the country. Every investor shall beentitled to protection against breaches of “fundamental due process” which includes substantial
procedural delays, breaches of transparency, substantive changes to conditions and terms oflicences, manifest arbitrariness, targeted discrimination on manifestly wrongful grounds and abusive treatment of investors.

4 www.inhousecommunity.com

Section 17 of the Act provides guarantees
against expropriation of investments. Investors will
be pleased to note that the law protects against
nationalisation and direct and indirect expropriation of investments. It also provides that no investor shall be compelled to “cede” an investment toany person, “except for a public purpose, in
accordance with due process of law, in a nondiscriminatory manner and on payment ofprompt, adequate and effective compensation”. In
the event of expropriation, the compensation shallbe equivalent to fair market value. These guarantees are significant in Zimbabwe given the compulsory land nationalisation programme with nocompensation for the land value at the turn of the
century and the indigenisation programme started
in 2007 which affected all sectors of the economy
until the programme was substantially watereddown in 2017.
In a move that will encourage investors, the
new law provides for the rights of investors tofreely transfer funds without restriction or delay ina freely convertible currency into and out of
Zimbabwe with respect to the following:• contributions to capital;• proceeds, profits from the asset, dividends,
royalties, patent fees, licence fees, technicalassistance and management fees, shares andother current income resulting from investment
under this Act;• proceeds from the sale or liquidation of any
investment;• payments made under a contract entered intoby the investor including payment pursuant to aloan agreement;• payments resulting for the settlement of investment disputes; and• earnings of foreign personnel legally employedin Zimbabwe.
An investor is free but not required to apply

to the Agency for an investment licence for an
existing or planned investment. It is mandatory forinvestors in special economic zones to apply forinvestment licences. A holder of an investment
licence is entitled to priority treatment by government officers when applying for any permit,
licence concession or other authorisation.
Investment licences are not transferrable except
with the prior approval of the Agency.
The Act provides for the establishment ofspecial economic zones which shall be publishedin the Government Gazette. It also stipulates theconsiderations to be taken into account by the
Agency when considering applications for investment licences in these zones.
The Act repeals and consolidates the following investment regulatory statutes;• the Zimbabwe Investment Authority Act(Chapter 14;30);• the Special Economic Zones Act (Chapter
14;34); and• the Joint Ventures Act (Chapter 22;22).
The Joint Ventures Unit established under the
Joint Ventures Act has been transferred to the
Agency and renamed the Public Private Partnership
Unit of the Agency. The Act regulates the mannerin which Public Private Partnerships are enteredinto.
In accordance with the government mantrathat “Zimbabwe is open for business”, Zimbabwe
has shown serious political will to implement thereforms in the investment sphere. The infrastructure for the establishment of the One Stop
Investment Services Centre is already in place atthe ZIDA offices at ZB Life Towers in central
Harare. One hopes that the Agency will demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness envisaged in
the Act when implementing the new law.

LEX Africa is an alliance of law firms formed in
1993 and with over 600 lawyers in 26 Africancountries. www.lexafrica.com

JURISDICTION UPDATESINDONESIABy Yohanes Masengi
and Benedicta Frizka

Summitmas I, 16th – 17th Floors, Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 61-62, Jakarta 12190, Indonesia
Tel: (62) 21 5080 8300 / Fax: (62) 21 252 2750
E: Yohanes.Masengi@makarim.com
E: Benedicta.Frizka@makarim.com
E: info@makarim.com
W: www.makarim.com

The Omnibus Law on Job CreationT

he government reportedly submitted its draft
bill of the Omnibus Law on Job Creation(RUU Cipta Kerja) to the House of Representatives
early in February 2020. This bill will become a partof the Omnibus Law to be issued by the government, along with draft bills on taxation, new capitaland pharmacies. The concept adopts replacing or
revoking or restating various provisions of various
regulations in various sectors under a single
umbrella law. This method is to result in the simplification of and harmony between the overhauled rules, by which it is expected that job
creation and investment will be increased.
What the bill has to offer
RUU Cipta Kerja, as part of the proposed
Indonesian Omnibus Law, is claimed to be one of
the government’s efforts to accelerate economic
growth through creating jobs, encouraging investment and increasing productivity. The draft bill
adopts the following as points:
1. Licensing simplification — this includes (i)simplifying various licensing procedures,
including for location and spatial (zoning) permits, environmental licences, building permits;and (ii) implementing a risk-based analysis
method in various sectors so that only highrisk businesses will need licences, while theothers might only need simpler procedures(eg, registration, certification).
2. Investment requirements — this includes
introducing a list of the sectors prioritised forinvestment.
3. Manpower — this aims to increase the productivity of Indonesian manpower and at thesame time maintain and increase the welfare
of existing employees by revisiting the rules on
the minimum wage, the use of outsourcing,foreign employees, severance pay, working
hours, etc.
4. Empowerment and Protection of Micro,
Small and Medium-scale Enterprises

6 www.inhousecommunity.com(MSMEs) — this introduces a single data base,rules on partnerships with MSMEs, incentives,etc.
5. Ease of doing business — this aims to createa more friendly atmosphere for businessactors by revisiting the rules on, among otherthings, immigration, intellectual property, oiland gas businesses, etc.
6. Research and innovation support — thisincludes developing exports, assigning stateowned/private companies.
7. Government administration — this covers
the organisation of authorities, discretionary
powers, norms, standards, procedures, criteria as well as the organisation of electronicsystems and documents.
8. Sanctions — this includes the removal of
criminal sanctions for administrative (noncriminal) errors.
9. Land procurement — this includes efforts toprovide a simpler and faster procedure for land
procurement as well as new provisions on theterms for which certain land titles can be held.
10. Investment and government projects — thisincludes forming a sovereign wealth fund toadminister state investments and efforts tomake land procurement easier, including its
licensing and funding.
11. Economic zones — this includes efforts toprovide a simpler procedure for licensing andgranting incentives.
Pros and cons of the draft bill
Views on the draft bill are split on its possible
impacts. Despite its esteemed proposed objectives, some believe that simplifying licensing may
bring more harm than benefits. While some areconcerned that the draft bill may eliminate key
requirements, such as the environmental licencerequirements and sanctions for administrative
infringements, others are of the view that in fact
the key requirements will not be removed but

merely repackaged and reproduced, thereby
accommodating business and investment without
losing the essence of the requirements.
There has also been much discussion of thepossibility of the draft bill violating the principle ofregional autonomy. If indeed the draft bill delegates to the central government licensing which isactually within the authority of local authorities, it
might risk a judicial review of the bill being
requested. Similar may happen in the manpowerand employment sector. Various sections of society, mostly groups of employees, feel the need todefend such rights as the minimum wage, severance entitlements, etc, which they find to might be
weakened under the draft bill.
On one hand, it can be understood why thedraft bill tries to address sensitive issues, such as
those related to employment and land ownership,
which have been the main challenge faced in theeffort to boost investment for the development of
the national economy. On the other hand, it must
be ensured that this effort does not harm the core
principles of regional autonomy, manpower or
agrarian laws and regulations.
Conclusion
According to the Elucidation of RUU Cipta Kerja
published by the Coordinating Ministry of the
Economy of the Republic of Indonesia, in 2020
Indonesia ranks 73rd in the world in terms of easeof business, a long way below some other Asean
countries, eg Singapore (ranks 2nd), Malaysia(12th) and Thailand (21st).
Notwithstanding the divided opinion on RUUCipta Kerja, accommodating investments shouldbe the government’s focus now that Indonesia isgoing to deal with various planned developments,
which include the move of the capital city ofIndonesia, the regional connectivity programme,
tourism development and others. These proposed developments will rely heavily on the easeand attractiveness of investing in Indonesia, andRUU Cipta Kerja can be seen as an effort to support this idea.

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JURISDICTION UPDATESPHILIPPINES

By Tiffany Ann
L. Dy

Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW)
Tel: (632) 8830 8000
E: tldy@accralaw.com
W: www.accralaw.com

Coping with Covid-19

T

he WHO has declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic and people around theglobe are understandably very worried, if not in astate of panic. In the Philippines, in an effort toquell the upward surge in infections similar to what
is happening in other countries, President Rodrigo
Duterte initially ordered a “community quarantine” of the National Capital Region effective
March 15 until April 1, 2020. However, on March
16, the President put the entire island of Luzon on“enhanced community quarantine” (ECQ-Luzon),strictly imposing a home quarantine, among others, starting on March 17 until April 12.
While Covid-19 is primarily a health issue, itcannot be denied that it has multi-faceted effects— from the suspension of classes to how businesses operate, and yes even redefining how
people socialise.
Indubitably the economy will take the hardest hit. It is a daunting challenge for the government to balance the economy and the health ofthe populace. While we are, of course, very
concerned about people’s health, we need tokeep the economy going. Some businesses must
operate, albeit not “business as usual” and withvery stringent restrictions.
In this regard, Malacanang, through Executive
Secretary Salvador Medialdea, has issued a memorandum following the declaration by the president of the ECQ-Luzon providing, among others,
that only those private establishments providing
basic necessities and such activities related to foodand medicine production, ie public markets,
supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores, hospitals, medical clinics, pharmacies and drug stores,
food preparation and delivery services, waterrefilling stations, manufacturing and processing
plants of basic food products and medicines,banks, money transfer services, power, energy,
water and telecommunications supplies and facilities, shall be open, subject to the adoption of astrict skeletal force and social distancing measures.

8 www.inhousecommunity.com

Furthermore, the memorandum provides
that business process outsourcing establishments
and export-oriented industries shall remain
operational subject to compliance with the following conditions: a) strict observance of social
distancing; b) provision of appropriate temporary
accommodation arrangements for employees;
and c) implementation of a skeletal work force.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles has made it
clear that any covered company that fails to comply with any of the said conditions shall not beallowed to operate.
Note that the Labor Advisories issued by the
Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE)
prior to the declaration of the ECQ-Luzon, ie
LAs 9 and 11, Series of 2020, may still apply. Suchadvisories allowed companies to adopt certain
flexible work arrangements (FWA) such as workfrom-home, reduction of workhours/workdays,
rotation of workers, forced leave and temporary
suspension of operations under Article 301 (formerly 286) of the Labor Code. Companies fallingwithin the exceptions under the Palace
Memorandum may adopt any of such FWAs.
Other companies may adopt work-from-homeor temporary suspension of operations.
Furthermore, the provision in the advisories
stating that leaves of absence during the community quarantine period are to be charged
against the workers’ existing leave credits, if any,
may still arguably apply. Remaining unpaid leaves
during said period may be covered and be subject to the conditions provided in DoLE’s Covid19 Adjustment Measures Program. In any case,
the DoLE has subsequently issued Department
Order No. 209, Series of 2020 or Guidelines on
the Adjustment Measures Program for Affected
Workers Due to the Corona Virus Disease 2019
(DO 209), which provides, among others, that a
one-time financial assistance of P5,000 (US$100)
shall be provided to affected workers (of affected
establishments) in lump-sum, non-conditional,

regardless of employment status, to cover theremaining unpaid leaves. Large establishments,
however, are highly encouraged to cover the fullwages of the employees during the entire quarantine period. There shall also be employment
facilitation by providing access to available job
opportunities.
Affected establishments, under DO 209,
refer to private establishments that have implemented FWAs as defined under Advisory No. 9,
S 2020. On the other hand, affected workers areworkers in private establishments whose
employment face or suffer interruption due tothe Covid-19 pandemic such as: retained workers who do not receive regular wage (eg, thoseon a reduced work hours or work days); andworkers whose employment is temporarily suspended by reason of the suspension of operations of the employer’s business establishment.
With respect to Ecozone IT Enterprises, thePhilippine Economic Zone Authority or PEZA has
issued on March 5, 2020 Memorandum CircularNo. 2020-011 or the PEZA Assistance to Ecozone
IT Enterprises in responding to COVID-19.
Perhaps PEZA should issue another Circular inlight of the declaration of the ECQ-Luzon.
Pray tell when this catastrophe will end, but
it is fervently hoped, by the grace of God andcoupled with the unparalleled resilience of theFilipino workers, that these measures will cushion the economic and even psychological impactof the Covid-19 on the employers and theiremployees. Let us keep safe, everyone!

This first appeared in Business World, a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines.
The views and opinions expressed in this article
are those of the author. This article is for general
informational and educational purposes, and notoffered as, and does not constitute, legal advice
or legal opinion.
Tiffany Ann L. Dy is an Associate of the Laborand Employment Department of the Angara
Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices(ACCRALAW). She may be contacted at
tldy@accralaw.com or (632) 8830-8000.

JURISDICTION UPDATESSOUTH KOREA

Poongsan Bldg. 23 Chungjeongro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03737, Korea
Tel: (82) 2 2262 6229 / Fax: (82) 2 2279 5020
E: mijeong.oh@dentons.com
W: www.dentonslee.com

By Mi-Jeong Oh

Recent revisions to the “Three Data Laws”
on privacy protection in South Korea

T

he National Assembly of South Korea
recently passed a bill to amend the so-called“Three Data Laws” of Korea — the Personal
Information Protection Act, the Act on Promotionof Information and Communications Network
Utilisation and Information Protection, Etc.
(hereinafter Information and Communications
Network Act) and the Credit Information Useand Protection Act (hereinafter Credit
Information Protection Act) — in January 2020.
This amendment will take effect beginning
August 5, 2020. Revisions to any related enforcement decrees and enforcement rules, which will
elaborate on the amended provisions of theseacts, will be prepared by March and then will be
pre-announced in March or April.
More data use with the introduction of“pseudonym information”
The recently amended Personal Information
Protection Act introduced the idea of “pseudonym information”. It refers to information which
was processed to prevent certain individuals
from being identified by using a pseudonym (or“de-identification”) such as deleting any part ofpersonal information or replacing any identifiable
information fields with pseudonyms.
Pseudonym information may be processed(such as through collection, creation, interlocking, provision, disclosure, etc) without the consent of the information object in any scientificresearch, including for statistical and industrial
purposes. Any pseudonym information retained
within a company can be combined autonomously but combining pseudonym information
held by more than one company can be done
only by the Personal Information Protection
Commission or other designated specialised
agencies. In addition, the amended Credit
Information Protection Act also allows the use of

10 www.inhousecommunity.com“Pseudonym information
may be processed (such as
through collection,
creation, interlocking,provision, disclosure, etc)
without the consent of theinformation object in any
scientific research,
including for statistical andindustrial purposes”
pseudonym personal credit information withoutobtaining consent when producing statistics forcommercial purposes and for industrial research.
Moreover, when pseudonym information isprovided to a third party, it must not include any
information which can help identify the individuals involved. If pseudonym information is processed for the purpose of identifying an individual,
a company engaging in that conduct can be fined
up to 3 percent of the company’s annual sales.
The allowance of pseudonym information
systems is intended to help nurture researchneeded for new technology development and tohelp promote new industries such as smart cities,
fintech, etc. The prevailing forecast is that the
introduction of such pseudonym information willcontribute to revitalisation of data economy and
AI development. However, standards and guidelines related to such pseudonym personal information have not yet been developed and muchconcern has been voiced about the importanceof creating further safeguards for pseudonym

information. Companies and research institutes
are also showing keen interest in follow-up
measures for this newly introduced system by
the Personal Information Protection Commission.
Unification of the personal information
protection system
Currently, the protection of personal informationin Korea is being regulated by several agencies
such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, theKorea Communications Commission, thePersonal Information Protection Commission
and others. But the amended Personal
Information Protection Act will unify these scattered personal information protection services tobe solely handled by the Personal Information
Protection Commission, while elevating the status of such agency to become a central administrative organisation. Provisions on personal
information protection stipulated in the
Information and Communications Network Act
will all be deleted, and such deleted provisions
will be incorporated into the Personal Information
Protection Act. This is to ensure the independence and extensiveness of the regulatory authority for personal information protection, and it isalso relevant to the current effort to obtain the
EU’s recognition of South Korea’s compliancewith GDPR goals.
Strengthened rights of credit information
objects
The amended Credit Information Protection Act
is also granting individuals, as the subjects ofcredit information, a new right to demand thatany financial company transfer their own credit
information to other companies or agencies.
Such measure is interpreted to be based on theinformation subjects’ right to data portability
recognised by the EU’s GDPR. This will in turnboost the so-called “my data” industry that provides various services, such as integrated inquiryof personal credit information, credit and asset
management, etc.

JURISDICTION UPDATESVIETNAMBy Ha Hai and Phan Minh

Hanoi: VNA Building, No. 20 Tran Hung Dao Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: (84) 0 24 3933 2129, Fax: (84) 0 24 3933 2130
E: haiht@bizconsult.vn – Mobile: (84) 96 371 8558
E: minhpt@bizconsult.vn – Mobile: (84) 90 462 1350
E: info-hn@bizconsult.vn
Ho Chi Minh: Room 1103, 11th Floor, Sailing Tower, 111A Pasteur, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tel: (84) 0 28 3910 6559, Fax: (84) 0 28 3910 6560
E: info-hcm@bizconsult.vn
W: www.bizconsult.vn

New regulations on automobile transportbusinessAfter a long time in the drafting stage, theGovernment issued Decree No. 10/2020/
ND-CP (Decree 10) on January 17, 2020, regulating automobile transport business and conditions for conducting automobile transportbusiness, replacing the Decree No. 86/2014/
ND-CP dated September 10, 2014 (“Decree86”). Decree 10 shall officially take effect from
April 1, 2020 and put an end to the pilot application of ride-hailing software for passenger transport business with e-contract which has been
applied for more than four years. Some notable
new features of Decree 10 are as follows:
Discrimination between automobiletransport business providers and providers of application software supporting
the transport connection
The most important new point of Decree 10 isthe definition that “automobile transportbusiness” means conducting one or more maintransport activity (to directly coordinate thevehicles, drivers or to decide the transport fee) totransport passengers or goods on the road forprofit. This definition helps discriminating
automobile transport business providers fromproviders of application software supporting thetransport connection by the factor of directly
coordinating the vehicles, drivers or deciding thetransport fee or not.
Furthermore, the Decree also defines“Coordinating vehicles, drivers refers to theprocess where an organisation or individualassigns a passenger or freight transport task to adriver via the application software supporting thetransport connection, a transport order or atransport contract”. This shall help to determine
whether technology companies providing ridehailing transport services be considered as

12 www.inhousecommunity.com

transport business providers or not. If yes, suchcompanies shall be required to obtain Automobile
Transport Business Licence and are subject tolegal regulations binding automobile transportbusiness companies, including the requirement
to sign labour contracts, pay kinds of insurances,periodical health check and other benefits fortheir employees, including drivers and supporters
on automobile.
Relaxing taxis from requirement of lightboxes fixed on the car roofs
According to previous regulations, taxies wererequired to have light boxes with the word
“TAXI” fixed on the roof. Now, Decree 10
allows passenger transport by taxi businesses theoption of either fixing light boxes with the word
“TAXI” on car roofs with a minimum size of
12x30 cm or posting (affixed) the phrase “XE
TAXI” (“TAXI CAR”) made of reflective materialon the front and rear windshields with theminimum size of the phrase “XE TAXI” (“TAXI
CAR”) being 6 x 20 cm.
Rented automobiles, tourist automobiles
must have signages and all required information affixed on the vehicle’s bodies
To prevent the problem of illegal transport
vehicles, illegal temporary station, Decree 10
requires the rented automobiles to have thesignage of “XE HỢP ĐỒNG (“RENTED
AUTOMOBILE”), the tourist automobiles tohave the signage of “XE DU LỊCH” (“TOURISTAUTOMOBILE”) affixed beneath the front
windscreen on the right-hand side of thevehicle.
At the same time, rented automobiles andtourist automobiles must be posted (affixed) withthe words “XE HỢP ĐỒNG” (“RENTED

AUTOMOBILE”), “XE DU LỊCH” (“TOURISTAUTOMOBILE”) made of reflective materials on
the front and back windshields of the vehicle.
Mandatory installation of cameras forpassenger transport business automobiles of nine seats (including drivers) or
more, trucks and tractors
Decree 10 requires passenger transport businessautomobiles of nine seats (including drivers) or
more, trucks and tractors to be equipped withcameras to ensure the recording and archive ofimages inside the vehicles (including driver andvehicle doors) during the course of traffic before
July 1, 2021. Duration of retention of theseimages is at least 24 hours or 72 hours dependingon the operating distance of the vehicle. The
image data must be provided to the competentauthority upon request.
Requirements for taxis equipped with the
ride-hailing software
Taxis using ride-hailing software capable ofbooking, cancelling and charging rides must be
equipped with a device directly connecting withpassengers for booking and cancelling rides; theride is charged based on the distance showed on
the digital map and the ride charging softwaremust comply with regulations of laws onelectronic transactions.
In particular, when finishing a ride, companies
using ride-hailing software must send e-invoices
to passenger via the software and send theinvoice’s information to its supervisory tax
authority pursuant to regulations promulgated by
the Ministry of Finance.
Beside above notable points, Decree 10 also
provides for several other new regulations tomeet with the needs for management oftechnology companies providing ride-hailingtransport services which are expected to createa fair competitive environment for traditional taxi
and technology taxi in Vietnam.

JURISDICTIONOFFSHORE
UPDATEUPDATES

By Piers
Alexander

29th Floor, One Exchange Square,
8 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong
T: (852) 2842 9525
E: Piers.Alexander@conyers.com
W: www.conyers.com

Registering private funds with CIMAAll Cayman entities which fall within thedefinition of “private fund” in the Private
Funds Law, 2020 and which are carrying on
business on or after February 7, 2020 have until
August 7, 2020 (the “transitional period”) toregister with the Cayman Islands Monetary
Authority (CIMA).
The characteristics of a “private fund” are thepooling of investor funds with the aim of spreadingof investment risk, where the investors do nothave day-to-day control over investment decisions
but instead the investments are managed by or on
behalf of the operator of the fund (eg, directors or
general partner) and where the “investment
interests” subscribed for by investors carry anentitlement to participate in the profits and gains
arising from the investments but, crucially, are notredeemable or repurchasable at the option of
investors.
The Private Funds Law, 2020 therefore
encompasses all Cayman Islands closed-ended
fund structures, unless excluded as a “non-fundarrangement”.1
A Cayman entity structured as a private fundshall submit an application for registration to CIMA
within 21 days after accepting capital commitments
and must be registered as a private fund prior toreceiving capital contributions from investors.
Accordingly, any Cayman entity carrying on
business during the transitional period and which
has accepted capital contributions must ensure it isregistered with CIMA by August 7, 2020.
Registration will be made electronically on
CIMA’s Regulatory Enhanced Electronic Forms
Submission (REEFS) platform and will require a
private fund to file:• an application form and application fee(US$366)2;• a certificate of incorporation or registration;• constitutional documents, such as thememorandum and articles of association or
partnership agreement;

14 www.inhousecommunity.com“Any Cayman entity
carrying on business during
the transitional period andwhich has accepted capital
contributions must ensure
it is registered with CIMAby August 7, 2020”• an offering document, summary of terms ormarketing materials which describe the termsof the offering;• an auditor’s and, where applicable, anadministrator’s letter of consent; and• a structure chart showing the ownership of theprivate fund (excluding the investors), any
subsidiaries and affiliates.
CIMA has advised that it will require aminimum of two directors for private funds
structured as companies and a minimum of twonatural persons in respect of a general partner ofa limited partnership or corporate director.
Directors appointed to “private funds” are notrequired to be registered under the Director
Registration and Licensing Law of the Cayman
Islands.
A “private fund” must have its accounts
audited annually by a Cayman Islands based
auditor approved by CIMA. The accounts,
together with a Fund Annual Return, must be filedwith CIMA within six months of the relevant
financial year end and must be prepared inaccordance with IFRS or GAAP of the US, Japan,
Switzerland or a non-high risk jurisdiction. CIMA
has confirmed that a “private fund” is required tosubmit an audit for its 2020 financial year. It is
anticipated that CIMA will issue policies andprocedures regarding waivers and extensions

applicable to audits in due course.
Private funds are subject to valuation, safekeeping and cash management requirements
which will likely see appropriately qualified
independent third parties undertaking suchfunctions; although there is scope for them to be
carried out in-house, by a private fund’s manager
or operator or a control entity of such manager or
operator, subject to certain criteria.
The valuation of the assets a “private fund”
must be conducted in accordance with its valuation
policy at a frequency that is appropriate to theassets held by the private fund and at least on anannual basis.
A private fund is required to appoint acustodian to hold in a separate custody account(s)in the private fund’s name, or for its account, thoseassets which are capable registration or of being
physically delivered. The custodian must also verify
that the private fund holds title to any other assets
and maintain a record of such other assets.
A private fund may notify CIMA that it isneither practical nor proportionate to appoint acustodian having regard to the nature of theprivate fund and the type of assets held. In suchcircumstances, either an administrator, otherindependent third party or the manager, operator
or control entity must be appointed to carry out
title verification as described above.
A private fund must appoint either anadministrator, custodian or another independent
party or the manager, operator or control entity
to monitor cash flows, ensure that all cash has
been booked in the cash accounts and ensurethat all payments made by investors have been
received.
1. “Non-fund arrangements” include, for example, joint
ventures, proprietary vehicles, debt issues and debt
issuing vehicles, structured finance vehicles,
occupational and personal pension schemes, sovereign
wealth funds, single family offices and funds whose
investment interests are listed on stock exchanges
specified by CIMA.
2. The first-year annual registration fee of approximately
US$4,270 will not be payable for Cayman entities whichhave registered as “private fund” by August 7, 2020.

EVENT REPORTS

In-House Community Congress, Middle-EastT

he 14th annual In-House Congress Middle
East, Dubai took place on March 3.
Sadiq Jafar of Hadef & Partners ably moderated a lively and interactive plenary session that stimulated debate between in-housecounsel and private practice lawyers, entitled“Like the Shoreline and the Sea: The everevolving relationship between in-house teams
and external providers”.
Topics covered included the amended Civil
Procedures Law, 10 things every in-houselawyer should know about dispute resolution,
economic substance in the Cayman Islands andthe British Virgin Islands, effectively managing a
potential litigation crisis, deconstructing regulatory risk for foreign entities in India, recent
developments in UAE labour and employment
law and a scenario-led approach to making
sure your commercial contract knows who you
are, what you want and where you’re going.
Thanks to co-hosts Afridi & Angell, Al
Suwaidi & Company, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem& Associates, Gibson Dunn, Hadef & Partners,
HSA Advocates and Maples Group, as well as
sponsor Taylor Root.

A special thanks on behalf of the In-House Community™ to all our speakers, which included:“An excellent event – informative sessions and a great opportunity
to network with my peers” – Middle East, Dubai Congress delegate
Charles Laubach
Partner
Afridi & Angell

Mohammed
Alsuwaidi
Managing Partner
Al Suwaidi &Company

Jimmy Haoula
Managing Partner
BSA Ahmad Bin
Hezeem & Associates
LLP

Asim Ahmed
Partner & Head of
Litigation
BSA Ahmad Bin
Hezeem & Associates
LLP

Hadiel Hussien
Associate
BSA Ahmad Bin
Hezeem & Associates
LLP

Helen Graham
General Counsel
Dubai TransportCompany LLC

Graham Lovett
Partner and Head of
Disputes PracticeMiddle East
Gibson, Dunn &Crutcher LLP

Fraser Dawson
Partner
Gibson, Dunn &Crutcher LLP

Sadiq Jafar
Managing Partner
Hadef & Partners

James Dunne
Head of Trade Marks& Brand Protection
Hadef & Partners

Omar Al Heloo
Partner, Dispute
Resolution
Hadef & Partners

Victoria Woods
Partner, Head ofCommercial PracticeGroup
Hadef & Partners

Walid Azzam
Partner, Disputes
Resolution
Hadef & Partners

Hemant Sahai
Founding Partner
HSA Advocates

Oliver Simpson
Associate
Maples Group

Keith Oliver
Head of InternationalPeters & Peters
Solicitors LLP

Patrick Dransfield
Publishing Director
Asian-mena Counsel
and Co-Director
In-House Community

Volume 17 Issue 4, 202015

THE BRIEFING
DEAL OF THE MONTH

April 2020

Fighting Covid-19

T

Bank of China raises funds to support SMEs in Macau.

he Covid-19 pandemic is taking a heavy
toll on businesses in Macau, where
tourism is a principal source of economic
activity.
In response to the government’s callfor the provision of support to small andmedium-sized enterprises, Bank of China’s Macau branch raised US$640 million
through the issuance of social bonds, thefirst from a Chinese issuer in the international capital markets.
The proceeds raised will be used to provide special loans and reduce the financing
costs for Macau SMEs, including those thatprovide healthcare and medical supplies or
manufacture medical devices, to support therecovery of the local economy and supply
epidemic prevention and control products.
This landmark transaction comprises
a HK$4 billion (US$515.2m) 1.95 percent bond due 2022 and a MOP1 billion(US$125m) 1.9 percent bond due 2022.
Both notes are issued under Bank of China’s US$40 billion MTN programme andare aligned with the Social Bond Principles
2018 published by the International CapitalMarket Association.
Casino operator Galaxy Entertainment

Group was among the buyers, subscribingfor HK$100 million.
“Different organisations in Macau havebeen standing strong together in the fightagainst the Covid-19,” said Francis Lui,
vice-chairman of GEG. “We appreciate theprompt efforts made by BOC Macau tosupport local SMEs and foster the recoveryof the local economy, including the issuanceof the social bonds.”
Allen & Overy advised the joint leadmanagers and joint bookrunners, withpartner Agnes Tsang leading the firm’s
team in the transaction.

Other recent transactions from around the region:
Baker McKenzie has represented Nasdaq-listed CytoSorbents, aleader in critical care immunotherapy specialising in blood purification,
on an agreement with Hong Kong-listed China Medical System Holdings(CMS) to bring CytoSorb to mainland China to treat critically ill patientswith Covid-19 coronavirus infection. Under the terms of the agreement, CytoSorbents and CMS will partner to earn regulatory clearance
to import CytoSorb into China under the “fast-track” review processestablished by the National Medical Products Administration to respondto the Covid-19 pandemic. CytoSorbents will donate initial CytoSorb
devices and provide product, training and support to CMS to introduce
CytoSorb initially into four hospitals in Wuhan, China. New York partner Oren Livne and Hong Kong partners Isabella Liu, Tracy Wut andChristina Lee led the firm’s team in the transaction.
The Capital Law Office has acted for Central Retail Corporation (CRC) on Thailand’s largest equity IPO by market capitalisation todate. The firm advised CRC, the country’s leading multi-format, multicategory retailing platform, on an IPO/listing in Thailand, an international
offering under Rule 144A/Regulation S under the US Securities Act, anda share swap to delist Robinson. After CRC’s first day trade on February
20, 2020, the transaction was valued at approximately US$2.6 billion.
Partners Patraporn Milindasuta and Paradorn Leosakul led thefirm’s team in the transaction.
AZB & Partners has advised India-incorporated Uber India
Systems and US-incorporated Uber Technologies on the acquisition by Zomato Media of Uber Eats Business, valued at Rs13.75 billion(US$191.6m), from Uber India Systems, giving Uber a 9.99 percent
ownership in Zomato. Partners Ashwath Rau, Jasmin Karkhanis,
Samir Gandhi, Hemangini Dadwal, Bharat Budholia, Nohid

16 www.inhousecommunity.com

Nooreyezdan, Veena Gopalakrishnan and Aditya Singh Chandel
led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was completed on January
21, 2020.
Allen & Gledhill has acted as transaction counsel and Singapore
law adviser to United Hampshire US Reit Management, as manager of United Hampshire US Reit, on the US$323.5 million IPO andlisting of United Hampshire US Reit in Singapore. The IPO portfolio
comprises 22 grocery-anchored and necessity-based retail properties
and modern, climate-controlled self-storage facilities across the USA
worth US$599.2 million. Joint managing partner Jerry Koh and partners
Teh Hoe Yue and Jonathan Lee led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Maples Group has acted as Cayman Islands counsel to Hong
Kong-listed Viva Biotech Holdings on the issuance of US$180 million
2.5 percent guaranteed convertible bonds due 2025 by Viva Incubator
Investment Management, guaranteed by Viva Biotech and convertible
into the ordinary shares with par value of US$0.000025 each in thecapital of the guarantor. The issuance closed on February 11, 2020. Viva
Biotech operates a leading structure-based, integrated drug discovery
platform, and provides structure-based drug discovery services to its
biotechnology and pharmaceutical customers worldwide for their preclinical stage innovative drug development. Partner Matt Roberts led
the firm’s team in the transaction. Sidley Austin acted as the English
and Hong Kong counsel, and JunHe as the China counsel of Viva
Incubator Investment Management. Linklaters and Commerce& Finance Law Offices acted as English and Chinese counsel to JP
Morgan Securities, China International Capital Corporation
Hong Kong Securities and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation as the joint lead managers.

MOVES

The latest senior legal appointments around Asia and the Middle East
AUSTRALIA
Pinsent Masons has added Phillipa Beck to expand its construction
advisory and disputes team in Australia. Beck is a construction lawyer
advising on project delivery and disputes across the energy and infrastructure sectors in Asia Pacific, including private public partnerships.
She joins from Norton Rose Fulbright. Her expertise spans risk management, dispute avoidance and all forms of dispute resolution.

HONG KONG
Ashurst has bolstered its international equity
capital markets/US securities and M&A practices with the addition of Melody He-Chen
as a partner in Hong Kong. Joining from DLA
Piper, He-Chen has significant experienceadvising investment banks and corporations
on capital markets and corporate matters inAsia and the US. She focuses on securities
Melody He-Chenofferings, advising international conglomerates and state-owned enterprises on global offerings and listings in Hong
Kong, SEC-registered offerings, secondary offerings, rights issues andshare placings. She also has extensive experience in financings, private
equity investments, M&A and compliance matters. He-Chen is a native
Mandarin speaker qualified in both the US and Hong Kong.

JAPAN
Clifford Chance has added Michihiro Nishi
as a partner in its corporate practice in Tokyo.
Nishi has extensive corporate experienceadvising private equity funds and public companies on investments, corporate governance,
disclosure and stock exchange matters. He
has a strong track record working on complex,
cross border M&A transactions with public
Michihiro Nishicompanies. His headline deals include advising WeWork on the Japan part of its US$4.4 billion investment from
SoftBank Group and SoftBank Vision Fund; Joyson Safety Systems on its
US$1.6 billion cross-border acquisition of substantially all of the global
assets and operations of Japan-based Takata, making it the world’s
second-largest airbag manufacturer; and Nikkei on its acquisition of the
Financial Times. Nishi joins from Skadden Arps. Prior to that, he wasat Mori, Hamada & Matsumoto. He received his law degree from Keio
University and has a master’s degree in corporate governance and practice from Stanford Law School. He is qualified in Japan and New York.

MALAYSIA
Wong & Partners, member firm of Baker McKenzie International
in Malaysia, has strengthened its antitrust and competition team bywelcoming back Lydia Kong as a partner. The firm has also expanded
its China outbound practice with the appointment of Addy Herg as apartner. Herg joins effective immediately, while Kong returns on April
6, 2020. Kong returns to the firm after a year and a half with Navis
Capital Partners as senior legal counsel. At Navis, she assisted withfund formations and fund-related matters, as well as acquisitions andexits, and other regulatory and compliance issues. A key focus of herpractice is antitrust and competition law. On the other hand, Herg joinsfrom Skrine. He has built an impressive client roster focused on M&A,
foreign direct investments and joint ventures. He has regularly acted for
insurers and advised on financial services and insurance-related laws, inaddition to undertaking corporate advisory work. His fluency in both
English and Mandarin, and deep understanding of Chinese corporate
and social culture, has helped him build a practice advising a host of
Chinese corporations across a wide range of sectors.

SINGAPORE
Bird & Bird has grown its tech and comms sector group with theaddition of Jeremy Tan as a partner in Singapore. As an international
technology practitioner and head of the commercial and TMT practiceat his previous firm, Tan has extensive experience in commercial andtechnology transactions, including advising on multi-jurisdiction sourcing projects. He regularly advises clients on digital transformation andIndustry 4.0 initiatives involving cyber-security, data privacy, communications and new technologies, such as distributed ledger technology
and artificial intelligence. Tan was previously a partner at CMS Holborn
Asia in Singapore.
White & Case has strengthened its global
banking practice with the addition of Charles
McConnell as a local partner in Singapore.
McConnell has extensive experience advising corporates, sponsors, banks and credit
funds on cross-border leveraged and acquisition financing transactions and structured andsecured lending transactions in Southeast Asia
Charles McConnell
and Japan. He joins from Linklaters and brings
16 years of experience gained in London, Tokyo and Singapore, where
he has advised clients for more than a decade.

Empowering In-House Counsel along the New Silk Road
Volume 17 Issue 4, 202017

Opportunities of the Month …

Be it a case of wanting to spice things up or break the pattern, every now and then, it's nice to know there's somethingelse. Whether you do so casually or stringently, take a look below to see what the legal sector can offer you.

Fund Formation Attorney – Private Practice
1-3 yrs PQE, Hong Kong
Europe-based, full-service law firm with an international presence
is looking to hire a junior (1-3 year PQE) fund formation attorney
into their Hong Kong office. Mandarin is NOT required, and they
are flexible as to jurisdiction of qualification (US, UK, Australia). You
would be advising Asia-based fund promoters and other financial
institutions with respect to setting up and structuring of Europebased investment fund operations. They have attorneys of a varietyof backgrounds and qualifications in their office, and even if you
do not have any experience in the relevant regulatory regimes /jurisdictions that they specialize in, they are very happy to teach andretrain. [Ref: JVIHC-0028]
Contact: Alexis Lamb
Email: alexis@evanjowers.com

Legal Counsel – Investment Bank
4-10 yrs PQE, Hong Kong
Reputable investment bank with strong presence in Asia is seeking
a mid to senior level legal counsel to join its team. You will be partof an established team and have broad coverage across ECM, M&A,
and structured finance. This is an exciting opportunity for someone
who is looking to gain wider exposure and be part of a legal teamthat works closely with the business. Mandarin skills are preferred,as well as prior experience at another reputable organisation. [Ref:AC8346]
Contact: Chris Chu
Tel: (852) 2537 7415
Email: cchu@lewissanders.com

Senior Legal Counsel – Manufacturing
8+ yrs PQE, Hong Kong
Hong Kong-listed global manufacturer is looking for a senior
corporate and commercial legal counsel with listing rules andcompany secretarial experience to work alongside other teammembers within the legal function to maintain a consistent endto-end legal support to wider business colleagues on commercial
transactions and advise management members on listing rules
compliance. Fluent Cantonese is a must. Ref: IHC 18391
Contact: Matthew Chau
Tel: (852) 9089 4112
Email: m.chau@alsrecruit.com
18 www.inhousecommunity.com

Commercial Legal Counsel– Global Consultancy
5+ PQE, Singapore
This role is with a leading global professional services company thatprovides services in strategy, consulting, technology and operations
for clients across all industries. This is an exciting regional in-house
opportunity for a mid-level or senior commercial lawyer to join
an agile, innovative and dynamic legal team based in Singapore to
support the business and its clients in Southeast Asia. You will bea collaborative team player that is agile and keen to keep pacewith legal and business developments affecting the company andits clients. You will have strong commercial contract experiencein a fast-paced corporate environment. Experience negotiating
technology or outsourcing agreements is a plus. [Ref: HZ 34-00006]
Contact: Jessica Deery
Tel: (65) 6808 6635
Email: jessica.deery@horizon-recruit.com

APAC Legal Director – MNC
12+ yrs PQE – Hong Kong
This is an excellent opportunity to take up a leadership role in aleading MNC to cover legal matters in the Asia Pacific region. You
will provide legal support and advice to business leaders on retail
operations, e-commerce, marketing, and operational matters.
You must be a qualified lawyer with over 12 years’ PQE in bothlaw firms and in-house environments. Candidates with a highlevel of analytical skills and the ability to lead a complex area of
responsibility as well as strong contract drafting and negotiation
skills preferred. Fluent written and oral English, Cantonese, andMandarin skills are required; the Japanese language is a definite plus.
[Ref: 15649/AC]
Contact: Sherry Xu
Tel: (86) 21 2206 1200
Email: shanghai@hughes-castell.com.hk

SPOTLIGHT ON CIA
Collections, Investigation & Audit

David Kerstjens
Digital Forensics LeadDavid Kerstjens@lawinorder.com

Computer Forensics and the Rise of the DroneW

ith more people being confinedto their homes in different partsof the globe, hobbyists will befinding new uses for their drones. This canbe a nuisance for the general public, but
drones can be used for much greater
benefit or much greater havoc than this.
Drones can be used for security
purposes and monitoring construction
projects through to delivery of medical
supplies or equipment to remote areas.
Drones have been utilised to deliver
contraband to prisons but have also beenused by law enforcement to identity
prisoners involved in or inciting riots. In
2018, Gatwick Airport (second busiest
airport in the UK) was closed for 33 hours
across a 2-day period because of a dronesighting which resulted in over 1,000
flights being cancelled or delayed. Eachtime the drone was out of sight and the
runways were cleared for re-opening, thedrone would appear again. Even an
unconfirmed sighting can result in havoc.
So, what do drones have to do with
Computer Forensics? Drones themselves
are essentially flying computers capableof storing, creating and transmitting
data. The drone itself can store data
relating to the owner of the drone,flights paths and coordinates including
altitude which can be utilised todetermine speed, log files for eachsession from power on through to power
off, start and end locations, and any
photos of videos that were taken by thedrone itself. All this information is sent
back to the controller. In the case ofmany hobbyists, it is stored on theirmobile phone, but the information often
remains resident on the drone itself.
In the event of an incident, if thedrone is captured, this captured data
could be utilised to identify:
Who owns the drone?
• Using serial identifiers, the drone canbe linked to an account or user.

Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

As demand increases, theneed to prevent
cybersecurity hacks, the useof Artificial Intelligence anddata analysis features will
become more important
Where did they fly?
• The GPS location can identify the startof each journey and each subsequent
location between the start anddestination of the drone.
• These are timestamped and can beused to identify previously stored
flight paths.
What happened on the flight?
• Image and videos can be used to
identify what the individual saw during
their journey.
• If the drone was being utilised for aparcel drop, the coordinates could be
used to work out where the package
was dropped, resulting in a sudden
increase in altitude and change of
speed. Calculations can identify theapproximate size or weight of the
package.
Heading into 2020, drone sales andusage continues to grow with more andmore hobbyists entering the market. Thisis due to both lower costs as well as anincrease in capabilities as a result offurther hardware and software
advancements.
Other predictions for the future
include an increasing interest in drones
for commercial uses in the mapping,
agriculture, security, mining, energy,
medical delivery and communications
sectors among others. As demand
increases, the need to prevent
cybersecurity hacks, the use of Artificial
Intelligence and data analysis features
will become more important. Automation

and unmanned systems will also be indemand. Communication technology isalso important for delivering immediate
project updates without reworking andcan make a significant difference tocommercial timeframes and budget. As
the capacity and sophistication of drones
increase, so does the risk for commercial
operators if drones are captured andmade accessible to digital forensic
experts who can retrieve commerciallysensitive information.
Drones are here to stay, as a result of
increased interest as well as user
accessibility. Aviation and privacy laws
will likely continue to be a hot topic
within the field. As capabilities andtechnology advances, drone forensics will
likely remain a fluid topic with morechallenges relating to these flying
computers and investigations of thedevices that control them.
Law In Order is a leading provider to thelegal profession of eDiscovery and legal
support services including forensic datacollection, information governance, managed document review, and eArbitration
services. An Australian-owned company,
with more than 470 staff with 7 offices
across Asia Pacific, as well as a suite at
Maxwell Chambers Suites (part of the
expanded Maxwell Chambers in
Singapore), we provide a secure, flexible
and responsive outsourced service of
unparalleled quality to law firms, government agencies and corporate legal departments throughout the region. We operate
24/7, 365 days a year, ensuring our clients
have unrestricted access to experienced
litigation support professionals for assistance and advice at any time.
3 Phillip Street, #17-01, Royal Group
Building, Singapore 048693
Tel: (65) 6714 6655
Email: singapore@lawinorder.com
Web: www.lawinorder.com.sg
Unit 901, 9/F, Beautiful Group Tower,
74-77 Connaught Road Central,
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 5803 0000
Email: hongkong@lawinorder.com
Web: www.lawinorder.com.hk

19

FIND A LAWYER ...
MIDDLE EAST AND INDIA EXTERNAL COUNSELFor detailed profiles and to Find a Lawyer in other jurisdictions,please visit https://www.inhousecommunity.com/find-a-lawyer/, or scan this QR Code.

Abdul-Haq Mohammed

Adv. Ali Al Zarooni

Jurisdiction: Bahrain
Firm: Trowers & Hamlins
Title: Partner
Email: amohammed@trowers.com
Phone: (973) 17 515607
Experience/Expertise: Alt’ Investments (inc’ Private Equity),
Real Estate & Construction

Jurisdiction: United Arab Emirates
Firm: Horizons & Co
Title: Managing Partner
Email: alisaeedi@horizlaw.ae
Phone: (971) 4 354 4444
Mobile: (971) 50 631 4431
Experience/Expertise: Banking and Finance, Compliance/
Regulatory, Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions, Employment/
Labour, Insurance, Intellectual Property, International
Arbitration, Investigations & Due Diligence, Islamic Finance,
Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Maritime & Aviation,
Project Finance, Real Estate & Construction, Restructuring &Insolvency

Jeremy Ingham
Jurisdiction: Bahrain
Firm: Trowers & Hamlins
Title: Partner
Email: jingham@trowers.com
Phone: (973) 17 515626
Experience/Expertise: Banking and Finance, Compliance/
Regulatory, Islamic Finance, Project Finance, Restructuring &Insolvency

Salman Ahmed
Jurisdiction: Oman
Firm: Trowers & Hamlins
Title: Partner
Email: sahmed@trowers.com
Phone: (973) 17 515 616
Experience/Expertise: Banking and Finance, Capital Markets,
Compliance/Regulatory, Islamic Finance, Project Finance

Areen Jayousi
Jurisdiction: United Arab Emirates
Firm: Horizons & Co
Title: Partner
Email: Areen.jayousi@horizlaw.ae
Phone: (971) 4 354 4444
Mobile: (971) 50 284 2926
Experience/Expertise: Banking and Finance, Capital Markets,
Compliance/Regulatory, Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions,
Employment/Labour, Intellectual Property, International
Arbitration, International Trade, Investigations & Due
Diligence, Islamic Finance, Litigation and Dispute Resolution,
Project Finance, Real Estate & Construction, Restructuring &Insolvency

Bashir Ahmed

Tom Wigley
Jurisdiction: Oman
Firm: Trowers & Hamlins
Title: Partner
Email: twigley@trowers.com
Phone: (968) 2468 2928
Experience/Expertise: Energy & Natural Resources,
Environmental

Jurisdiction: United Arab Emirates
Firm: Afridi & Angell
Title: Managing Partner
Email: bahmed@afridi-angell.com
Phone: (971) 4 330 3900
Experience/Expertise: Alt’ Investments (inc’ Private Equity),
Banking and Finance, Compliance/Regulatory, Corporate/
Mergers & Acquisitions, Employment/Labour, Islamic Finance,
Maritime & Aviation, Restructuring & Insolvency

For more information on how to have your profile in the ‘Find a Lawyer’ search tool, please email our Publisher, Rahul Prakash, atrahul.prakash@inhousecommunity.com

20 www.inhousecommunity.com

Find an External Counsel by Practice and Jurisdiction... AND SEND THEM AN

Cheryl Cairns

Mustafa Motiwala

Jurisdiction: United Arab Emirates
Firm: Trowers & Hamlins
Title: Partner
Email: ccairns@trowers.com
Phone: (971) 4 351 9201
Experience/Expertise: International Arbitration, Litigation
and Dispute Resolution, Real Estate & Construction

Jurisdiction: India
Firm: Clasis Law
Title: Partner
Email: mustafa.motiwala@clasislaw.com
Phone: (91) 98209 04695
Experience/Expertise: Intellectual Property, International
Arbitration, Islamic Finance, Litigation and Dispute
Resolution, Maritime & Aviation, Project Finance, Real Estate& Construction, Restructuring & Insolvency

Christopher Gunson
Firm: Amereller
Title: Partner
Email: gunson@amereller.com
Phone: (971) 4 432 3671
Jurisdiction: United Arab Emirates
Experience/Expertise: Anti-trust/Competition, Banking and
Finance, Compliance/Regulatory, Corporate/Mergers &Acquisitions, Employment/Labour, Energy & Natural
Resources, Environmental, FinTech, Intellectual Property,International Arbitration, International Trade, Investigations &Due Diligence, Islamic Finance, Litigation and Dispute
Resolution, Life Sciences/Healthcare, Project Finance, Real
Estate & Construction, Restructuring & Insolvency, Taxation

Masood Afridi
Jurisdiction: United Arab Emirates
Firm: Afridi & Angell
Title: Partner
Email: mafridi@afridi-angell.com
Phone: (971) 4 330 3900
Experience/Expertise: Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions,
Energy & Natural Resources, Project Finance

Saleem Adam
Jurisdiction: United Arab Emirates
Firm: Trowers & Hamlins
Title: Partner
Email: sadam@trowers.com
Phone: (971) 2 410 7611
Experience/Expertise: Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions,
Cybersecurity & Privacy, Investigations & Due Diligence,
Telecoms, Media & Technology

Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

Pravin Anand
Jurisdiction: India
Firm: Anand and Anand
Title: Managing Partner
Email: pravin@anandandanand.com
Experience/Expertise: Intellectual Property, Litigation and
Dispute Resolution, Life Sciences/Healthcare

Vineet Aneja
Jurisdiction: India
Firm: Clasis Law
Title: Managing Partner
Email: vineet.aneja@clasislaw.com
Phone: (91) 98104 05782
Experience/Expertise: Alt’ Investments (inc’ Private Equity),Compliance/Regulatory, Corporate/Mergers & Acquisitions,
Employment/Labour, Insurance, Life Sciences/Healthcare,
Telecoms, Media & Technology, White Collar Crime, Wholesale& Retail, E-Commerce

Hemant Sahai
Jurisdiction: India
Firm: HSA Advocates
Title: Founding Partner
Email: hemant.sahai@hsalegal.com
Phone: (91) 11 6638 7000
Experience/Expertise: Alt’ Investments (inc’ Private Equity),
Banking and Finance, Compliance/Regulatory, Corporate/
Mergers & Acquisitions, Energy & Natural Resources,
Environmental, International Arbitration, Investigations & Due
Diligence, Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Project Finance,
Real Estate & Construction, Restructuring & Insolvency,
Taxation, Telecoms, Media & Technology

21

DEALS OF THE YEAR 2019

Deals of the Year
Asian-mena Counsel’s review of the top transactions andmatters that closed during 2019.
By Nick Ferguson, In-House Community

B

A roll call of the

We review some of the stand-out transactions across all practice areas below. See the table for all the advisers
on each of the winning transactions, as well as those that we have given honourable mentions.

…. p27-29

efore Covid-19 disrupted global markets, 2019 was a good year for dealmakers in Asia, with healthy growthacross most of the region’s asset markets and many market-defining transactions that were helped over theline by some of the top legal advisers in the region.

BANKING & FINANCE

winning deals
and top advisers

DEBT CAPITAL MARKETSAsian businesses have been slow to embrace environmental, social
Size matters in judging our deal awards, but we’re also focused on
and governance (ESG) targets, but 2019 saw significant progress,
complexity and innovation. It is certainly the case that banks andincluding a landmark loan facility arranged by ING for Quadria
companies turn to top firms to get their most important deals done,
Capital, a private equity fund focused on South and Southeast Asia,and that’s why we tend to recognise the biggest deals of the yearwith Ashurst advising. It is the world’s first sustainability(even when they’re fairly vanilla), but opening new markets andperformance-linked financing, linking the interest rate the US$65
introducing borrowers is where legal advisers can add real value.
million three-year revolving facility to the sustainability
Tencent’s US$6 billion bond was the biggest of the year
performance of the Quadria Capital Fund II. It is aand handled with aplomb by Davis Polk, but some ofsmall step, but one that is worth championing.
the year’s much smaller deals helped to develop
Digital banking is another area where Asia
the region’s frontier markets in significant ways.
Banks andhas lagged, despite the region’s highFor example, Yoma Strategic’s offshore
companies turn topenetration of smartphones and a generallybond raised just Bt2.22 billion (US$70m),
tech-savvy customer base. But Hong Kong
but it was the first ever offshore bond fromtop firms to get theirmade strides in the right direction in 2019
Myanmar, a country with no sovereign
most important deals done,with the issuance of its first virtual
credit rating or benchmark governmentbanking licences to a number of newyield curve, and demonstrated Thailand’s
but opening new markets andventures, including Livi VB, SC Digital
emergence as a financial market for its
introducing borrowers is
Solutions, ZhongAn Virtual Finance andfrontier neighbours. Yoma got the deal
Infinium (now Fusion Bank). The winning
done thanks to a guarantee from awhere legal advisers canlicensees were among 29 institutions thatmultilateral facility established by Asean+3
add real value
applied for the virtual banking licences fromand the Asian Development Bank, showing thethe HKMA.
way for other would-be borrowers in the country
A more conventional banking deal, though still a— and the region.
first of its kind, saw Milbank advise on the structuring of
Other frontier issuers included SriLankan Airlines’ US$175
the first aircraft lease securitisation using equity from themillion debut international bond, a rare corporate issue from theJapanese operating lease market for Stratos and JP Lease. Complex
country that investors welcomed with open arms. Thanks to US$3
and innovative, the US$683.2 million deal was used to acquire 15
billion of orders, the airline was able to price the deal at a very
securitized aircraft with leases attached (to Air Canada, Scoot,competitive 5.3 percent despite the modest size — a remarkable
Qatar, FlyDubai, Gulfair, Air Asia, Malindo, Philippine Airlines,
and much-needed achievement after a series of terrorist bombings
TACA, Brussels Airlines and Batik) from two separate sellers, GE
disrupted tourism. We also recognised the country’s much bigger
Capital Aviation Services and Standard Chartered.
US$2.4 billion sovereign bond, but the development of the newcorporate funding options is a more notable step (even if SriLankan
Airlines had to rely on a sovereign guarantee).

22 www.inhousecommunity.com

DEALS OF THE YEAR 2019

By Nick Ferguson, In-House Community

The growthin Cambodia and from Agricultural Development
Vietnam made similar progress in 2019 —Bank of China in Hong Kong.
VPBank’s US$1 billion medium term noteof ESG is anprogramme and its subsequent US$300 million
increasingly important
drawdown was the first corporate US dollardenominated bond out of Vietnam in theconsideration for investors
A notable development in Asia’s debt
past seven years.
— and this has encouraged
market came in the form of catastrophe
In the region’s northernmost extreme,
bonds. Singapore has made a significant
Mongolian Mortgage Corporation HFC, thesignificant growth inpush to establish the city as a regional
only finance company licensed to issue assetthe green bondcentre for insurance-linked securities andbacked securities and the sole residentialthat plan came to fruition in 2019 with a seriesmortgage-backed issuer in the country, launchedsectorof ground-breaking cat bonds.
its debut US$250 million unsecured bond offering and
IAG’s Orchard ILS became the first special purpose
subsequent tap issuance for an additional US$50 million.
reinsurance vehicle licensed by the Monetary Authority of
It was a bumper year for high-yield issuance in general, andSingapore under its new rules and successfully transferred
especially from China’s property issuers, including a US$3 billion
A$75 million (US$52.7m) of exposure to investors. This wasdeal for China Evergrande and US$1.5 billion for Country Garden,
followed later in the year by First Coast Re’s US$100 million
but the highlight of the year was perhaps Serba Dinamik’s US$300
deal, which represented the first Rule 144A catastrophe bondmillion Islamic deal, which was the first US dollar high-yield sukuk
issuance in Singapore.
in the region.
However, neither of these deals were linked to risks in
As seen in the banking and finance category, the growth of ESG
emerging Asia, where the need for disaster funding is mostis an increasingly important consideration for investors — and thisacute. That development came with the World Bank’s
has encouraged significant growth in the green bond sector as
Philippines deal in November, which was the first cat bond
Asian borrowers seek to tap into this pool of liquidity. Bank oflisted on an Asian exchange and the first to be sponsored byPhilippine Islands issued the first US dollar-denominated Aseanan Asian sovereign. The bonds finance up to US$225 million ofgreen bond by a Philippine bank and the country’s first rated green
protection against three years of typhoon and earthquakebond in the international market, while Bank of China. The region’srisks, and will form an additional layer of disaster relief forbiggest green bond came from Greenko Energy, which raised
the catastrophe-prone country.
US$950 million.
We also saw landmark retail bonds from Advanced Bank of Asia

Catastrophe bonds

Volume 17 Issue 4, 202023

DEALS OF THE YEAR 2019

EQUITY CAPITAL MARKETSDISPUTES

Alibaba’s HK$101.2 billion (US$12.93bn) Hong Kong IPO wasComplaints about patent infringement have been at the forefront
impossible to ignore in 2019. It was the world’s second-biggestof the US president’s trade war with China, which is why Orrick’s
equity offering of the year and the biggest IPO in Hong Kong since
victory at the US International Trade Commission on behalf of three
2010, and it also represented a significant achievement for the
Chinese companies was such a notable success. Ultravisioncity’s stock exchange after Alibaba chose New York ahead of Hong
Technologies filed a complaint against Sansi, Yaham, CreateLED
Kong in 2014 for its first overseas listing. The introduction of dualand a number of other respondents for alleged infringement ofclass shares was needed to woo Alibaba back — a decision thatpatents relating to certain modular LED display panels anddivides opinion, with investors generally complaining that thecomponents, but was forced to withdraw the complaint during thedilution of their voting rights is a blow to corporate governance,expert discovery period, ensuring a relatively speedy resolution
while entrepreneurs argue that such structures encourage
and allowing the three companies to continue their expansion ininnovation. It remains to be seen which view is correct.
the US.
Hong Kong’s IPO market has long been one of the world’s most
Justice tends to be somewhat slower in India. McDonald’s has
active, but we also saw some activity at the other end of the scale
been at odds with its joint venture partner in northern India,
in 2019, when Pakistani sock maker Interloop raised PRs5 billion
controlled by Vikram Bakshi, since 2008 but only came to a($51m) through an IPO in Karachi. It is the country’s biggest
settlement last year. The agreement gives McDonald’s India fullprivate-sector offering to date and the only one in 2019.
ownership of the business for the first time since Bakshi introduced
Alibaba might have come back to Asia, but international capitalthe golden arches to India in 1996.
remains attractive, as demonstrated by Huatai Securities’ landmark
London listing of global depositary receipts (GDRs), representing
its Shanghai-listed A shares in London. It is the first Chinesecompany to sell such GDRs in London and the US$1.69 billion
transaction was the first to be conducted under the new ShanghaiChina has been a tough market for international brewers such as
London Stock Connect scheme, which was set up to link the
Heineken. Despite years of investment, the Dutch beer is not a
Chinese and European capital markets by providing fungibility
popular choice among Chinese drinkers and the company’s entire
between London and Shanghai-listed securities.
sales account for less than 1 percent of the market. That changed
This wasn’t the only deal that tapped a new pool ofin 2019 with the company’s strategic partnership with China
international liquidity. SIN Capital raised US$173 million in New
Resources, owner of Snow Breweries, which makes theYork through the IPO of a special purpose acquisition
world’s best-selling beer. As part of the strategic
company, SC Health, which is a structure used to raisepartnership, Heineken paid HK$24.3 billion
money for acquisitions — the first time for a
Alibaba’s(US$3.1bn) to become CRE’s 40% partner in thecompany from Southeast Asia.
beer business and contributed its operating
Listing overseas is not the only route to
HK$101bn IPO wasentities in China, including three breweries,
raising international capital, of course. Many
the world’s secondinto CR Beer for a total consideration of
institutions in the US are comfortable
HK$2.4 billion. China Resources will also
investing in Asia’s domestic markets throughbiggest equity offering ofacquire a 0.9% shareholding in Heineken forRule 144A deals, but the extra time andthe year and the biggest€464 million (US$509m). Combined, these
expense involved with getting the necessarytransactions resulted in a net investment of
10b-5 opinion can be an obstacle, which is
IPO in Hong Kong
€1.9 billion and should create a significant
one reason why there hasn’t been one fromsince 2010
rival in China to AB InBev, the maker of Budweiser
the Philippines for seven years. That changed inand leading foreign beer.
2019 when AllHome raised P14.9 billion (US$295m)
The China Resources-Heineken deal was heavily
in the country’s biggest IPO since 2016.
negotiated and clearly involved a lot of lawyering, but it
We also saw India’s first real estate investment trust
was not a competitive process, which provides a degree of freedom(Reit) listing from Embassy Office Parks Reit, the first H- to A-share
to work through issues. This was not the case with Canadian asset
IPO on China’s STAR Market from China Railway Signal &manager Brookfield’s US$3.2 billion acquisition of Healthscope inCommunication and the biggest-ever US secondary offering from
Australia, which was the result of a takeover battle with private
Southeast Asia with Sea’s US$1.55 billion deal.
equity player BGH Capital. It was also a complicated transaction in
its own right, involving a simultaneous scheme of arrangement andtakeover with a mixture of bank funding and funding from thedisposal of part of Healthscope’s property portfolio.

M&A, PRIVATE EQUITY &VENTURE CAPITAL

24 www.inhousecommunity.com

DEALS OF THE YEAR 2019

By Nick Ferguson, In-House Community

KKR’s NT$45.32 billion ($1.83bn) acquisition of LCY Chemical
techniques, including a trustee borrowing structure, and was thewas a less complex private equity acquisition, but a rare one forfirst project financing in the region to comprise conventional
Taiwan. Indeed, it was the largest-ever private equity-backed
interest-bearing tranches with Islamic financing tranches.
transaction on the island and KKR’s first in 10 years.
Containing extensive Indonesian participation throughout
Elsewhere around the region, deals that closed in
the structure, it is also the first oil and gas projectThe
2019 included PTT group deals for Glow Energy infinancing in Indonesia to be supported by an allThailand and Murphy Oil’s Malaysian assets,
domestic offtake, with no government support,
development of
Cube Highways’ acquisition of DA Toll Road insolidifying the trend set by the 2017 Tangguh
wind power in Asia is
India, and two Hong Kong insurance deals
expansion project financing, which similarly— FWD’s acquisition of MetLife’s businessfeatured a relatively high degree of
one of the most promisingin the city and New World’s acquisition ofdomestic involvement. The project secured
developments in the region
FTLife.
more than US$1.84 billion in debt
On the venture capital side, one of thecommitments,
split into conventional andand took another step
more interesting deals we’ve seen in theIslamic finance tranches.
forward in 2019 withpast few years was series-A funding for
In Vietnam, we saw the first project
Nutrition Technologies, a Singapore startup
bondissue and first IPP refinancing, in
two significant
that intends to build a factory in Southeast
relation to the Mong Duong 2 power plant. The
projects
Asia that can produce more than 18,000 tonnes
bond raised US$678.5 million while the seniorof insect-based feed ingredients and organic
secured loan facility raised US$402.7 million for thefertilisers every year as an alternative protein source
purpose of acquiring all of the outstanding projectwith a lower environmental impact. Singapore is fast becoming afinancing loans of AES Mong Duong Power Company.
hub for agri-food tech startups and we look forward to more deals
Away from energy, the race to become the third new majorfrom this important sector.
player in the Philippines telecommunications industry was won by
a consortium of China Telecoms and Udenna after a competitiveand challenging bidding process. China Telecoms was required tomeet a number of commitments within a short period of time after
the declaration, but the hard work was repaid with the rare
The development of wind power in Asia is one of the mostopportunity to launch a nationwide greenfield telecom project inpromising developments in the region and took another stepa country with a population of more than 100 million. Such deals
forward in 2019 with two significant projects. In Taiwan, German
do not come along very often.
developer wpd closed a €2.7 billion (US$3b) project financing for
In Bangladesh, the Dhaka by-pass project will upgrade one of
the 640MW Yunlin offshore wind project, which is part of thethe main transport routes in the country through a public private
government’s plan to install 5.5GW of capacity by 2025 as it seeks
partnership signed between the Roads and Highways Department
to reduce its reliance on nuclear power in the wake of theand the winning consortium of Sichuan Road & Bridge, Shamim
Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Enterprise and UDC Construction. The Dhaka By-pass project is a
Later in the year, a smaller but perhaps more significant wind
key element of RHD’s road strategy and essential to alleviating
financing closed in Pakistan. The US$450 million IFC-backed Super
congestion in Bangladesh’s rapidly growing capital.
Six deal provides funding for six wind power projects to be built in
Not all projects are for such critical infrastructure. Hong Kong’s
the Jhimpir wind corridor in Sindh province. It is a first-of-its-kind
former airport site at Kai Tak has been mostly vacant since shortly
programme that will produce clean and low-cost power to meetafter the handover in 1997, so New World Development’s award of
the country’s critical demand for energy, and reduce reliance on
a 25-year contract to design, build and operate the Kai Tak Sports
expensive imported fossil fuels. With a combined capacity ofPark was a welcome step towards redeveloping the former north
310MW, the Super Six plants will generate more than 1,000
apron. The HK$29.99 billion (US$3.8b) deal followed a tendering
gigawatt-hours of electricity a year and are expected to reduce
process that started more than 18 months earlier and culminatedapproximately 650,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
with a groundbreaking ceremony officiated by the city’s chief
While such renewable projects are a very welcome answer to
executive, Carrie Lam. It is the biggest sports infrastructure
the region’s energy needs, there is still a place for fossil fuels given
project in Hong Kong in decades and will include a 50,000-seat
the region’s economic growth and increasing demand for energy.
stadium with retractable roof that will eventually host the city’s
Renewables cannot realistically meet all of this demand, but
iconic rugby sevens tournament.
replacing dirty coal plants with newer gas-fired technology is aproven way to lower emissions. The Jambaran-Tiung Biru Project inIndonesia is one such example, and is among the largest upstream
oil and gas projects to reach financial close in the country in thepast decade. It also featured several important new structuring

PROJECTS

Volume 17 Issue 4, 202025

DEALS OF THE YEAR 2019

RESTRUCTURING & INSOLVENCY

Finally, in India, RattanIndia Power (RIP), RattanIndia
Infrastructure and RR Infralands settled the Rs80 billion (US$1.13b)
owed by RIP to its lenders, led by a consortium led by Power
Finance Corporation and the State Bank of India. The process to find
new investors was executed through a global Swiss challenge
auction to raise Rs40.5 billion. The first-of-its-kind transaction, in
which foreign investors have replaced Indian lenders through aprocess of resolution outside the National Company Law Tribunal
framework, opening new doors for fresh capital to flow
into the distressed Indian power sector.

Mongolian Mining Corporation’s concurrent note offering, tenderand consent solicitation represented the final stage in thecompany’s rehabilitation after its restructuring in 2017, and while
the refinancing itself is not strictly a restructuring deal, we judged
it to belong in this category more than anywhere else. The deal
comprises a US$440 million bond sale, concurrent tender offer for
up to US$50 million of MMC’s outstanding perpetualsecurities and concurrent tender offer and consent
solicitation for any and all of ER’s outstanding
Mongolian Mining
senior notes due 2022. Outside China, it is thefirst successful refinancing for a debtCorporation’s
restructured company in Asia.
concurrent note offering,
Another deal that represented thesuccessful conclusion of a corporate
tender and consent
restructuring was Asset World’s Bangkok
solicitation represented the
IPO, which was the biggest new shareoffering in Thailand since 2013 and thefinal stage in the company’s
first to jump straight on to the benchmark
rehabilitation after its
share index. Indeed, with a total market
capitalisation of Bt185.74 billion (US$6.14b),
restructuring in 2017
it is the largest listed company in the historyof Thailand to date.

26 www.inhousecommunity.com

Methodology
We selected our winning deals thisyear based on submissions to theweekly Briefing newsletter that we
received during the year. To makesure your deals are considered fornext year’s Deals of the Year, please
make sure to send your completeddeal announcements tothebriefing@inhousecommunity.com.

DEALS OF THE YEAR 2019

By Nick Ferguson, In-House Community

From January to December, the Asian-mena Counsel Deals of the Year (Winners & Honourable Mentions.)
Congratulations to all the in-house and external counsel who had a hand in making them happen!
MONTH

January

February

DEAL
Yoma Strategic Holdings’ offshore bondBaker McKenzie

WINS

Mongolian Mortgage Corporation HFC’s debut bondMayer Brown

Bhushan Power & Steel’s challenge of India’s Insolvency &Bankruptcy CodeCyril Amarchand Mangaldas; L&L Partners

HMs

China Evergrande’s high-yield bonds

Commerce & Finance Law Office; Davis Polk & Wardwell; King &Wood Mallesons; Maples Group; Sidley Austin

WINS

Sansi, Yaham, CreateLED vs UltraVision

OrrickEmbassy Office Parks Reit’s Indian IPO

Clifford Chance; Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Simpson Thacher& Bartlett; Latham & Watkins; S&R Associates

Interloop’s Karachi IPO

Haidermota & Co; Bhandari Naqvi Riaz

IAG’s Orchard ILS catastrophe bondRajah & Tann

Hong Kong virtual bank licences (Livi, SC, ZhongAn)

Baker McKenzie; Clifford Chance; King & Wood Mallesons; White &Case

Sea’s New York secondary offering

Davis Polk & Wardwell; Maples Group; Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meagher & Flom

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka’s sovereign bondAllen & Overy; Mayer Brown; FJ & G de SaramCountry Garden’s high-yield bondAllen & Gledhill; Allen & Overy; Commerce & Finance Law Office;Conyers Dill & Pearman; Jingtian & Gongcheng; Sidley Austin; walkers

Hopewell Holdings’ privatisation

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Global Power Synergy’s acquisition of Glow Energy

Nishimura & Asahi; Weerawong C&P

Reliance Infrastructure’s sale of DA Toll Road

L&L Partners; S&R Associates

PTTEP’s acquisition of Murphy Oil’s Malaysian assets

Adnan Sundra & Low; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Higgs & Johnson;
Jones Day; McKinney Bancroft & Hughes; Skrine

Power Finance’s acquisition of REC

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; J Sagar Associates; L&L Partners

Makassar-Parepare railway project

Assegaf Hamzah & Partners (Rajah & Tann Asia); Hermawan
Juniarto & Partners

India Infrastructure Trust offering

Khaitan & Co; Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co; Sidley Austin

LG Chem’s green bond

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; Lee & Ko; Linklaters

Tencent’s dollar bond

Davis Polk & Wardwell; Han Kun Law Offices; Latham & Watkins

China Resources-Heineken strategic partnership

Allen & Overy; Davis Polk & Wardwell; De Brauw Blackstone
Westbroek; Han Kun Law Offices; King & Wood Mallesons

Kai Tak Sports Park project

Clifford Chance

GMR Hyderabad International Airport high-yield bondAllen & Gledhill; Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Khaitan & Co;
Milbank; Shearman & Sterling

Agricultural Development Bank of China’s retail bond

Clifford Chance; JunHe; King & Wood Mallesons; Linklaters

Serba Dinamik’s high-yield sukuk

Clifford Chance; Zaid Ibrahim & Co

Mongolian Mining Corporation’s concurrent note offering, tenderand consent solicitation

Davis Polk & Wardwell; ELC; Shearman & Sterling; Walkers

JOL Air securitisation

Clifford Chance; Hogan Lovells; K&L Gates; Milbank; Nishimura& Asahi; Stephenson Harwood; SyCip Salazar Hernandez &Gatmaitan; Tay & Partners; Walkers

IndiGrid Trust IPO

AZB & Partners; Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Khaitan & Co; Latham& Watkins; Nishith Desai Associates; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

McDonald’s settlement with Bakshi Holdings

Dua Associates; S&R Associates; Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas &Co; Wadhwa Law Chambers

Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics’ restructuring

Baker McKenzie; Clayton Utz

First Coast Re II catastrophe bonds

DLA Piper; Emmet, Marvin and Martin; Mayer Brown; Rajah & Tann

SriLankan Airlines’ debut international bondAllen & Overy; Julius & Creasy

Huatai Securities’ London GDR listing

Clifford Chance; Fangda Partners; Linklaters

China Telecoms-Udenna JV

Milbank; Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los
Angeles; Shearman & Sterling; V&A Law; WongPartnership

Brookfield’s acquisition of Healthscope

Arnold Bloch Leibler; Herbert Smith Freehills; King & Wood
Mallesons

WINS

March

HMs

April

WINS

HMs

WINS
May

HMs

June

ADVISERS

WINS

Volume 17 Issue 4, 202027

DEALS OF THE YEAR 2019
Asian-mena Counsel Deals of the Year 2019 – Winners & Honourable Mentions (HMs)
MONTH

June

DEAL

HMs

WINS

July

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; Clifford Chance; Li & Partners;
Maples Group; Tian Yuan Law Firm

China Railway Construction’s perpetual bondBaker McKenzie; DeHeng Law Offices; Clifford Chance; Jingtian &Gongcheng

Zhejiang Geely exchangeable into Volvo

King & Wood Mallesons

FWD’s acquisition of MetLife Hong Kong

Baker McKenzie; Debevoise & Plimpton

SC Health’s New York IPO

Ropes & Gray; Shearman & Sterling; Walkers

VPBank’s US$ EMTN programme

Allen & Overy; Mayer Brown

KKR’s acquisition of LCY Chemical

Baker McKenzie; Lee and Li; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Yunlin offshore wind project

Lee and Li; Linklaters; Tsar & Tsai; White & Case

Greenko Energy’s green bond

Ashurst; Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Shearman & Sterling; TT&A

Reliance’s acquisition of Hamleys

Khaitan & Co; Sullivan & Cromwell

New Frontier’s acquisition of United Family Healthcare

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; Debevoise & Plimpton; Fangda
Partners; Global Law Office; Hughes Hubbard & Reed; Kirkland &Ellis; Maples Group; Paul Hastings; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett;Weil; Winston & Strawn

Nutrition Technologies’ series-A funding

Bird & Bird ATMD; WongPartnership

Akebono Brake turnaround

Mori Hamada & Matsumoto; Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu;
Nishimura & Asahi

Advanced Bank of Asia’s retail bond

R&T Sok & Heng Law Office (Rajah & Tann)

China Railway Signal & Communication’s STAR Market IPO

Zhong Lun Law Firm

TPG and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board’s investment inDream Cruises

Conyers Dill & Pearman; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Ince;
Linklaters; Ropes & Gray; Weil

AllHome’s Manila IPO

Latham & Watkins; Picazo, Buyco, Tan, Fider & Santos

Jambaran Tiung Biru gas field financing

Ali Budiardjo, Nugroho, Reksodiputro; Latham & Watkins;
Milbank; Umbra

Mong Duong 2 project bond and refinancing

Allen & Overy; Latham & Watkins; NautaDutilh; Shearman &Sterling; VILAF

Bank of Philippine Islands’ Asean green bonds

Milbank

Axis Bank’s qualified institutional placement

AZB & Partners; Latham & Watkins; Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas& Co

Budwesier APAC’s Hong Kong IPO

Clifford Chance; Conyers Dill & Pearman; Fangda Partners;
Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer; Kim & Chang; King & Wood
Mallesons; Sullivan & Cromwell

Azure Power green bonds

Appleby; Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Latham & Watkins;
Linklaters

Quadria’s sustainability-linked financing

AshurstBank of China’s Macau SOFR bondAllen & Overy; Jingtian & Gongcheng; JunZeJun Law Offices;
Linklaters; MdME

Asset World’s restructuring and Bangkok IPO

Latham & Watkins; Weerawong C&P; White & Case

Bharti Airtel’s perpetual bondAllen & Overy; Appleby; Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Latham &Watkins; Linklaters

Formosa 2 offshore windfarm project financing

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Clifford Chance; Lee and Li;
Linklaters; Tsar & Tsai

Alibaba’s Hong Kong IPO

Fangda Partners; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Maples
Group; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Pakistan’s Super Six wind power project

Shearman & Sterling

Philippines catastrophe bondAllen & Gledhill; Linklaters; Sullivan & Cromwell

New World’s acquisition of FTLife Insurance

Dentons; Sullivan & Cromwell; Walkers

Celukan Bawang power plant project

Pinsent Masons; Withers KhattarWong

Dhaka by-pass PPP

AshurstRattanIndia debt resolution

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co; Shardul Amarchand
Mangaldas & Co

China Merchants Commercial Reit

Baker McKenzie; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; JunHe

China Singyes Solar restructuring

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Harneys; Kirkland & Ellis

HMs

August

WINS
HMs
WINS

September

HMs

WINS
October

HMs

WINS
November

HMs
WINS
December

HMs

ADVISERS

Hansoh Pharmaceutical’s Hong Kong IPO

28 www.inhousecommunity.com

DEALS OF THE YEAR 2019

By Nick Ferguson, In-House Community

Asian-mena Counsel Deals of the Year 2019 – Top Advisers
DOMESTIC FIRMS

WINS

HMs

INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL FIRMS

WINS

HMs

1

Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

3

6

1

Clifford Chance

6

5

2

Lee and Li

2

1

2=

Latham & Watkins

6

4

3

Han Kun Law Offices

2

0

2=

Linklaters

6

4

4

Khaitan & Co

1

4

4

Allen & Overy

5

3

5

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co

1

3

5

Shearman & Sterling

5

2

6=

Jingtian & Gongcheng

1

2

6

King & Wood Mallesons

3

4

6=

L&L Partners

1

2

7=

Davis Polk & Wardwell

3

2

6=

Nishimura & Asahi

1

2

7=

Milbank

3

2

6=

S&R Associates

1

2

7=

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

3

2

10

JunHe

1

1

10

Baker McKenzie

2

5

WINS

HMs

OFFSHORE FIRMS
1Walkers3

2

2

Maples Group

1

4

3

Conyers Dill & Pearman

0

4

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HONG KONG

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UNITED KINGDOM

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FRANCE

Wilson Huo
CHINA

Dr. Andreas Respondek Dr Christian Konrad
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AUSTRIAwww.InHouseCommunity.com/FindAnArbitrator/
Volume 17 Issue 4, 202029

SPECIAL FEATURE

M&A in the UAE & KSA —The evolving
legal
landscapeThe outlook for acquisition activity in the region is positive,
though much will depend on the impact of Covid-19.
By Jimmy Haoula, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & AssociatesDespite continuing geopolitical tensions
and the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, M&A
activity is poised to remain positive
across the Middle East. Volatile oil
prices and an overdependence on oil revenues are
driving regional governments to implement
reforms and initiatives to diversify theireconomies. These efforts are creating increasingly
attractive regulatory and business environments
for local and international entities, establishedplayers and newcomers to the region.
M&A markets in the UAE and KSA have until
now remained healthy. Significant deals such as
the merger of Saudi British Bank and Alawwal
bank, as well as continued inbound and outbounddeals in the UAE, are indicative of a dynamic M&A
market across the GCC.
Furthermore, local and international companies
are becoming increasingly conscious of the young
and tech-savvy populations across the region.
These companies are keen to invest in emerging
technologies with attractive growth potential. A
recent example being Uber’s acquisition of ridehailing app Careem last year for US$3.1 billion.
It is noteworthy however that actual M&A
activity in the region primarily consists of

30 www.inhousecommunity.com

acquisitions, rather than mergers. This is in largepart due to the lengthy and difficult approval
processes such mergers entail.
The full ramifications of the evolving Covid-19
outbreak remain to be seen. However, it isalready clear that M&A activity across the region
and globally will surely be impacted.
Legislative reform
Nonetheless, across the Middle East, much needed
regulatory reforms are being implemented at a
rapid rate. These developments are undoubtedly
stimulating M&A activity, improving ease of doing
business and attracting foreign investment.
The UAE is renowned for its strategic location,world class infrastructure and favourable businessenvironment. Nonetheless, forward thinking
legislators are aware that further progress must
be made to maintain the UAE’s position as aleading hub for business in the Middle East.
The keystone legislation governing M&A activity
in the UAE is the Commercial Companies Law.
Revised in 2015, this law introduced modernisingchanges in various areas of corporate structuring.
Further reforms have been introduced in recent
years which augment this regulatory framework.

M&A in the UAE & KSA — The evolving legal landscape
By Jimmy Haoula, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates

These include the implementation of a new
Foreign Direct Investment Law (FDI Law). The FDI
Law now allows up to 100 percent foreign
ownership in more than 122 economic activities
across 13 sectors. BSA are at the vanguard of thisevolving landscape, assisting clients in taking
advantage of this new law.
In addition, the UAE introduced a new
Bankruptcy Law in 2016. This was brought in toencourage a ‘rescue culture’ for distressedbusinesses and to closer align the UAE’s
bankruptcy regime with internationalcounterparts.
The UAE also introduced a new law on thepledge of movable assets as a guarantee for debts.
This law allows greater flexibility to corporations,allowing them to secure proper funds while
guaranteeing the financing parties’ rights.
The recent acquisition of popular UAE app The
Entertainer (by Bahraini based GFH Financial
Group); the acquisition of UAE based online
classified ads website Dubizzle (by South African
based Naspers); and the acquisition of the UAE
portion of food delivery business Zomato (byGerman based Delivery Hero) are all illustrative of
the increased appetite among regional andinternational companies for investing in the UAE.
The ever-improving regulatory environment will
only help in this regard.
In KSA, similar efforts are being made to
improve its attractiveness as a hub for regional
and international business. A main strategic aim of
its Vision 2030 is to transform its oil-based
economy into a knowledge-based economy.
To facilitate this ambition, necessary regulatory
reform has accelerated at an unprecedented rate.
Among the many important developments, KSA has
recently approved the new Professional Companies
Law, as well as new franchise regulations. Special
Economic Zones are also now being establishedacross KSA with the first zone being set up at King
Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. In March
2019, oil giant Saudi Aramco bought 70 percent of
SABIC, valued at US$70 billion. This landmark deal
further signals the extensive diversification efforts
in the Kingdom.
Summary
Regional and international companies havecontinued to consolidate, while always seeking toincrease their market share and penetration.
Acquisitions have hitherto facilitated timeefficient growth strategies. New product lines andmarkets have been accessed almost

Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

Jimmy Haoula

instantaneously, and balance sheets have enjoyeda welcome boost through carefully executedtransactions.
In addition to the regulatory reforms,
disruptive technologies have inspired M&A in the
Middle East. Businesses have sought to obtain new
capabilities and opportunities which will keep newmarket entrants at bay. To adapt to newtechnologies and fast-growing sectors, companies
have needed to diversify their business portfolios.
The varying jurisdictions across the GCC aredeveloping and evolving quickly. Great strides areclearly being made. Provided the economic impactof the Covid-19 outbreak is limited, economicallystimulating M&A activity will likely continue acrossthe region going forward.

Jimmy.haoula@bsabh.com
www.bsabh.com

31

SPECIAL FEATURE

The influence of
the Foreign
Investment
Law onforeign-invested
enterprises
China’s foreign investment management regime has become
more liberal and flexible, writes Mengyun Qiu of AllBright.

T

he Foreign Investment Law of thePeople’s Republic of China (“FIL”)
became effective on January 1, 2020.
Upon this effective date, the Law of thePeople’s Republic of China on Sino-foreign Equity
Joint Ventures, the Law of the People’s Republicof China on Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprises andthe Law of the People’s Republic of China on Sinoforeign Cooperative Joint Ventures (hereinaftercollectively referred to as the “previous three
foreign-invested enterprise laws”) have been
repealed by the newly adopted FIL.
Will the FIL affect the equity joint venturecontracts, cooperative joint ventures contracts
or shareholder contracts of the FIEs?
Regarding the administrative supervision over theequity joint venture contracts, cooperative joint
venture contracts and shareholder contracts(hereinafter collectively referred to as

32 www.inhousecommunity.com“Contracts”), under the previous three foreigninvested enterprise laws, equity joint venturecontracts and cooperative joint venture contracts
were subject to the administrative approval by
relevant governmental authorities, and where
two or more foreign investors proposed to apply
jointly for the approval for the establishment of
a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (“WFOE”), theduplicate copy of the executed shareholder
contract should also be filed to the relevant
governmental authorities for record. However,under the FIL there does not exist any
requirements of the administrative approval orrecord filing of those contracts either. Therefore,
the FIL has lifted such administrative supervision
over these Contracts.
Regarding the governing law of theseContracts, prior to the implementation of the
FIL, although the Law of the People’s Republic ofChina on Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprises did

The influence of the Foreign Investment Law on foreign-invested enterprises
By Mengyun Qiu, AllBrightnot have mandatory requirement on thegovernment law of shareholder contracts, theLaw of the People’s Republic of China on Sinoforeign Equity Joint Ventures (“Sino-foreign
Equity Joint Ventures Law”) and the Law of thePeople’s Republic of China on Sino-foreign
Cooperative Joint Ventures (“Sino-foreign
Cooperative Joint Ventures Law”) required thatthe conclusion, effectiveness, interpretation,
performance and dispute resolution of the equity
joint venture contracts and cooperative joint
venture contracts be governed by the laws of thePeople Republic of China (“PRC”). However,under the FIL, there does not exist any provisions
regarding these Contracts, nor any mandatory
requirements of their governing law. Therefore,
the FIL has given foreign investors more flexibility
in choosing these Contracts’ governing laws forthe establishment of FIEs in the PRC.
What are the breakthroughs in the form ofcapital contribution to the capital of the FIEs
under the FIL?
Regarding the statutory requirements of the
proportion of capital contribution by foreign
investors to Sino-foreign equity joint ventures
and Sino-foreign cooperative joint ventures, prior
to the implementation of the FIL, the Law of thePeople’s Republic of China on Sino-foreign Equity
Joint Ventures, the Law of the People’s Republicof China on Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint
Ventures and their implementation rules requiredthat the proportion of capital contribution by aforeign investor to a Sino-foreign equity joint
venture or a Sino-foreign cooperative joint
venture in general be no less than 25 percent.
However, under the FIL, it is notable that there is
no requirement of the minimum proportion ofcapital contribution by foreign investors.
Therefore, nowadays, foreign investors could
liberally determine the proportion of capital
contribution to be contributed to the FIEs basedon commercial considerations.
Regarding the form of capital contribution byforeign investors, the previous three foreigninvested enterprise laws provided different
statutory requirements for the form of non-cash
capital contribution by foreign investors
respectively. For example:• WFOEs: The machinery and equipment
contributed by the foreign investors shall be
indispensable to the production of the FIEs.
Where foreign investors make contributions to
the WFOEs in the form of industrial property orVolume 17 Issue 4, 2020

Mengyun Qiu

know-how, relevant detailed materials shall be
submitted to competent governmental
authorities for approval, and such authorities
are entitled to examination and inspection onthese materials.
• Sino-foreign equity joint ventures: The
machinery, equipment and other materials
contributed by the foreign investors shall be
indispensable to the production of Sino-foreign
equity joint ventures. Where foreign investors
make contributions in the form of industrial
property or know-how, the foreign investors
shall compensate for any losses due to theirfraudulent contributions in the form of outdated
technology or equipment. Furthermore, thecontributions in the form of machinery,equipment, other materials, industrial property
or know-how shall be approved by competent
governmental authorities.

33

SPECIAL FEATURE• Sino-foreign cooperative joint ventures: Where
each party of a cooperative enterprise uses its
own property or property rights as investment
or as the condition of cooperation, the party
must not set up any mortgage or encumbranceson such investment or condition.
On one hand, the FIL does not stipulate thestatutory form of capital contribution by foreign
investors, nor any provisions requiring that
foreign investors obtain approval for their noncash capital contribution. On the other hand, theFIL emphasises that “the state encourages
technical cooperation based on free will andcommercial rules in foreign investment. Technicalcooperation conditions shall be determined under
the principle of fairness by all investment parties
upon negotiation”. Therefore, it is indicated thatin terms of the form of capital contribution byforeign investors, administrative supervision has
made a concession to commercial considerations
and thus provides more flexibility for cooperation
between Chinese and foreign investors.
Do the FIEs need to adjust their corporate
governance structure and bylaws (and/or joint
venture contracts) in compliance with the FIL?
Prior to the implementation of the FIL, there
were statutory requirements specially applicableto Sino-foreign equity joint ventures and Sinoforeign cooperative joint ventures on the highest
authority, the composition of the board of
directors and the powers and functions under the
Law of the People’s Republic of China on Sinoforeign Equity Joint Ventures, the Law of thePeople’s Republic of China on Sino-foreign
Cooperative Joint Ventures and theirimplementation rules, including, but not limited
to the followings: (i) the highest authority of
Sino-foreign equity joint ventures shall be theboard of directors, while the highest authority of
Sino-foreign cooperative joint ventures shall be
the board of directors or joint management
committee; (ii) the increase or reduction of theregistered capital, merger, division, dissolution,liquidation or change of company form or
amendment of the articles of association of thecompany (Important Matters) shall be resolved by
all members of its highest authority of thecompany (ie the board of directors or joint
management committee); and etc.
However, under the FIL, the corporate
governance structure and bylaws (and/or joint
venture contracts) of the FIEs are subject to the

34 www.inhousecommunity.com

provisions of the Company Law of the People’s
Republic of China (“Company Law”), thePartnership Enterprise Law of the People’s
Republic of China (“Partnership EnterpriseLaw”) and other applicable laws as domestic
enterprises are. Take the limited liability
companies as an example: the bylaws (and/or
joint venture contracts) shall be madesubstantially modifications accordingly incompliance with the Company Law, including but
not limited to the followings: (i) The FIE shallestablish the shareholder meeting as its highest
authority; (ii) accordingly, the voting mechanism
for the Important Matters of a FIE shall bechanged from the previous requirement of“consent of all the directors present at themeeting” to “consent of the shareholders
representing two-thirds of voting rights” that isrequired by the Company Law; and etc.

“The FIL has given foreign investors more
flexibility in choosing governing laws for theestablishment of FIEs in the PRC”
Therefore, the FIL unifies the corporate
governance structures, powers and functions, andrules of procedure of shareholder meetings andboard of directors of both domestic enterprises
and the FIEs.
Conclusion
As the FIL has been effective since January 1,
2020, the current foreign investment
management regime has been changed by the FIL
to a large extent, including, but not limited to,more flexible and liberal cooperation between
Chinese and foreign investors in Sino-foreign
equity joint ventures and the Sino-foreign
cooperative joint ventures, and more flexible andliberal form of capital contribution by foreign
investors.

qiumengyun@allbrightlaw.com
www.allbrightlaw.com

IN-HOUSE INSIGHTS

Sigrid Wettwer

SigridWettwer
We speak to the head of group legal for the Middle East & Asia Pacificat DNV GL, the world’s largest classification society, about change,technology and running a lean and efficient legal organisation.

S

igrid Wettwer is head of group legal Middle
East & Asia Pacific for DNV GL, which won
both the Energy & Natural Resources andSmall Team of the Year categories at the2019 In-House Community Awards.
Tell us a little about your professional
background and how you came to your current
role?
As a German / UK qualified lawyer my original
specialisation was in maritime law. Starting mycareer as inhouse counsel at the ship classificationsociety Germanischer Lloyd in Hamburg, I was
heading a team of lawyers looking after thecompany`s maritime core business when it mergedwith the Norwegian Det Norske Veritas to form DNV
GL in 2013. After the merger I became head of thecentral European team and was largely involved in
restructuring and post-merger integration before
moving to Singapore in mid-2018 to lead DNV GL
Group Legal Middle East & Asia Pacific. Since I had
already been seconded to Germanischer Lloyd’s
Shanghai Office in 2009, working and living in Asia
was not entirely new to me.
I studied law in Hamburg, Lausanne, Cape Town
and London and hold the first and second Germanstate exam in law and an additional master’s
degree in shipping law from the University in Cape
Town. I am admitted to the German bar and theroll of Solicitors of England & Wales.

Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

How big is the team you work in and how is it
structured?
I am currently heading DNV GL’s Middle East & Asia
Pacific team within group legal, which is one ofthree regional teams, and report to DNV GL’s
general counsel Thor Winther in Oslo, Norway. In
my role I am blessed with a small, but highly
qualified and dedicated team of lawyers withdiverse cultural and educational backgrounds. We
cover the Region Middle East & Asia Pacific, which
for us means 28 countries where DNV GL is present
with local offices. The team currently counts fivelawyers, one in Shanghai, two in Dubai and two
here in Singapore. We are covering a wide range oflegal matters including commercial law for the fivebusiness areas of DNV GL (maritime, oil & gas,energy, business assurance and digital solutions),
corporate law, litigation, IP as well as some
aspects of labour law.
What do you think are the biggest challenges
facing in-house lawyers today?
The constant race on efficiency is a challenge thatis here to stay. Doing more with less or at least notwith more resources is a theme that isaccompanying me throughout my career, and I do
not see this coming to an end soon. This not only
requires inhouse lawyers to stay up to date withlegal technology, but also to work on personal
efficiency. The biggest challenge for a lawyer in35

IN-HOUSE INSIGHTS

this context is to get priorities right. To be thebest possible support for your business lawyers
have to strictly prioritise. You cannot afford to
spend a lot of time on drafting beautiful contract
stipulations if the project’s margin is low. So, youhave to gain a deep understanding of the business,
your company’s risk appetite and adjust your legal
advice to it.
Furthermore, the fast pace of change in theprofessional environment and the constantly
growing uncertainty remains a constant challenge.
This not only applies to the long-termsustainability of well-established business models,
but also to a changing legal landscape, especiallyon the international scale. Considering the speedof digitalisation in basically all business areas, weare frequently forced to embark on areas with highlegal uncertainties, often simply because
legislators struggle to keep pace with technologicaldevelopments.
What have been your own biggest challenges?
Demanding legal projects have become a constantin my professional life — sometimes combined withother challenges like internal restructurings or
takeovers. I enjoy both. To further build my ability
to evaluate complex situations correctly and to
make decisions accordingly was often demanding,but vital for my professional development. Also, tobalance a challenging career in an internationalsetting and a private life with two toddlers
requires you to develop the necessary resilienceand right mind-set.

“The constant race on efficiency is a challengethat is here to stay. Doing more with less or atleast not with more resources is a theme thatis accompanying me throughout my career, andI do not see this coming to an end soon”
What are the biggest challenges specific to yourindustry?
We have entered a decade of transformation
where the pace of the energy transition will be set
and digital technologies underpinning industry 4.0
will mature from experimentation into large-scale
application. This brings huge opportunities andrisks for DNV GL as well as our clients.
We expect the energy mix to be equally split
between fossil and non-fossil fuels by mid-century,
which is a dramatic change. Whilst our customers
36 www.inhousecommunity.com

in the powers and renewables sector are generally
well positioned to exploit this transition, some of
the industries we operate in, such as the maritime
and oil & gas sectors, are more difficult todecarbonise.
Likewise, there is no uniform picture amongst
our customers when it comes to digitalisation. We
as DNV GL are working hard to ensure that we areat the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution.
We are using blockchain to increase supply chaintransparency and our Veracity industry platform isan ecosystem that combines our expertise, ourcustomers’ data and third-party applications.
How is technology changing the way you work?
Over the past years we have introduced a varietyof IT tools to support our legal work in DNV GL.
This includes a global legal entity management
system where we store and update the corporate
data of our approximately 240 legal entities
worldwide and a group legal internal casemanagement system (IManage). Both havecontributed immensely to our internaltransparency as well as efficiency. In my
experience new tools usually come with a learning
phase that requires its users to invest some timeand effort. However, this will usually pay off byachieving the above-mentioned improvements.
Within the legal team we are currently preparing
for a launch of an internal chatbot that hopefully
will be able to answer most of the FAQs comingfrom our internal customers. Provided we will
come up with a workable solution, I believe the
bot will free up time for us to work on more
relevant tasks.
Apart from this we constantly work on
improving the use of tools already provided. Onceyou start diving into the functionalities of an officepackage preinstalled on your computer you might
be surprised about the possibilities to optimise
your daily work.
What do you most look for in a law firm whenoutsourcing work?
Usually we are looking for two main attributes
when outsourcing legal work: Firstly, the lawyer
working on the task needs to bring the right legal
competency. For our cases this is usually not only amatching legal specialisation, but also local
knowledge often beyond specifics of the respective
legislation. Secondly, we need legal support thatcomes with the right, pragmatic mindset. Thisapplies to the proposed solutions for legal
problems as well as to the way legal work ispresented. Most of our internal customers have anSigrid Wettwer

engineering background and are not coming fromfinance or legal functions. When we obtain legal
advice, it is important that it is presented in a waythat allows us as in-house counsel to use it
internally without further “translations”. In DNV
GL we seek to achieve this by using two large
panel law firms with global spread, Norton Rose
Fulbright and Eversheds, as our go-to partners.
However, especially in our region we are often
confronted with legal problems stemming fromcountries where these firms are not established.
Hence, we also frequently work with lawyers
outside of our panel network.
Other than law firms, what sort of other service
providers and tools help you most as a legal
department?
Apart from law firms we are working with
providers for corporate secretarial service, forensic
experts, auditing firms and legal service providers
to cover longer leave periods or unusual workload
peaks. All of the above can prove to be very
helpful when it comes to run a lean and efficientlegal organisation. Especially a well-functioning
corporate secretariat service provider is very
valuable in an international environment.
What aspects of your role do you most enjoy?
You might be surprised to hear this from someone
who worked in the same organisation for over a
decade, but what I really enjoy about my role in
DNV GL is the constant change. We are operating
in a fast changing and uncertain environment and I
believe our company is exceptional in anticipating
future challenges for our customers and thereby
our own business. I very much enjoy being part ofthis exciting journey. An equally large factor forme are the people I work with. This not only
applies to our remarkable legal team in DNV GL,
but also to the operational colleagues. We haveoutstanding technical experts who work on theforefront of technical and technologicaldevelopments and who are an inspiration to workwith, especially if you enjoy working crossfunctional as much as I do.
Looking forward, what changes do you foresee inthe way that legal services will be provided incoming years?
As mentioned before, I am convinced that the racefor efficiency will continue, so optimisation andsetting right priorities are tasks that will stay.
Apart from this I especially believe that the global
legal landscape will continue to become more
complex, also in consideration of the changing
Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

political environment (eg, protectionism, tradewars and sanctions). Working in a multinational
company and being tasked with safeguarding
compliance with all these diverse regulations willcontinue to be a challenge for lawyers. In order tobe able to do so I think there is need to worksmarter on theses (and other) tasks. In my view
there will be no other way than embracing legaltech going forward, even if this will disrupt theway we are used to work as lawyers in one way or
the other.

“I am convinced that the race for efficiency
will continue, so optimisation and setting
right priorities are tasks that will stay”
What advice would you give to young lawyers
starting out in their careers today?
For me a sound legal education is only the starting
point of a career in the legal field. Whatcommercial lawyers need to develop in addition isa good understanding of the business they are
working in as well as its financials. Furthermore,
the modern working environment requires a new
type of teamwork. The days where a lawyer
produced his work alone behind closed doors aregone. Moreover, the ability to collaborate acrossdifferent geographies, cultures and professions isneeded to build a successful career in today’s
globalised environment. In this regard outstanding
communication skills and intercultural
understanding are vital. Finally, I believe it isessential to embrace change and new ways ofworking, also to be prepared for a possible
disruption of legal services. In this regard life-longlearning is required, but thankfully this can begreat fun as well!
What do you most like to do away from work?
Having a job that most of the time requires me tosit at a desk or meeting table I like to do sports inmy free time. It helps me to balance body andmind after a day full of work. Apart from this I
enjoy the time with my friends and family. Our
children are still young, but I can already see thatthese precious years will pass quickly. I also verymuch like travelling and thereby discovering newplaces, tastes and impressions. This is one of thebest ways for me to recharge. Lastly, I am a keen
hobby photographer and luckily both my family
and travels are providing me with many occasions
to take pictures.
37

ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL Q&A

The thing about …

38 www.inhousecommunity.com

The Thing About … Philip Wood

PhilipWood
Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

Recently, Philip
Wood met up with
Asian-menaCounsel’s Patrick
Dransfield
and answered aseries of questions
put to him on behalfof the In-House
Community.

39

ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL Q&A

At the beginning of the book on law you have

What is the future of law? Are you confident thatwritten for the general reader — ‘The Fall of thelawyers are maintaining their collective moral

Priests and the rise of the Lawyers’ — you draw

compass while advising clients?

universal lessons from two great paintings of theSince I believe that laws are the crystallised andearly 19th century; Deloacroix’ Liberty Leadinglargest set of our moral codes necessary for our

the People ; and Gericault’s The Raft of Medusa

societies, I don’t believe that cold winds will blow

to illustrate that without the rule of law wein the faculties of law and that the offices ofdescend into barbarity. What do you have to saylawyers will crumble to dust. I see quite theto those that would argue that the rule of law is

opposite happening.

primarily a construct of Western civilization?
The message of that book is that the law is

Do the governing law and jurisdiction ofnecessary for our survival and that you cannot

contracts matter and what should be thehave a modern society without laws. The laws are

criteria? How does a lawyer get on top of theby far the largest, most comprehensive anddifferences between jurisdictions?

important moral system of a country. By laws I

All contracts must have a governing law and canmean not only laws about basic things such as

be litigated somewhere. Luckily in most countries,

murder, but also laws about taxation, money,

you can choose. The largest ideologies arebanks, corporations and all the rest. These topics

represented by the great families of law orare drenched and saturated in some moral or

mixtures. The families differ substantially on someethical view. Laws are not always good and most

key points in their approach to private andlawyers will have their own list of terrible laws.

commercial law so the choice can make a lot of

The law is a universal and necessary invention. The

difference. The question is not so much what is

law is our servant, not our master.

good or bad, but rather what is most suitable forthe contract and the parties. For example, the“The relationship between in-houseand external lawyers should be oneof deep mutual respect. It’s a toughjob wherever you are.”ideologies can differ according to whether they are
pro-debtor or pro-creditor, or whether they tend tosupport predictability and terms of the agreed
contract or give the courts latitude to substitute
what the court thinks is fairer.
Will the harmonisation of business law ever
happen?

Where should a conscientious lawyer place her

At present legal systems are splintering in theor himself between the stick of authoritarianism

detail like a stone hitting a windscreen. It is

and the fist of mob rule?

natural that people will have different ideas about

All citizens, not only lawyers, should seek towhat is best for them. And also a bit of

improve the societies they live in.

competition is not a bad thing. But it would benice to get agreement on some of the flash points

Is the law complicated these days and if so, why?

which have been festering around for centuries.

There are 321 jurisdictions in the world, encasedin about 198 sovereign countries, nearly all of

What should be the proper relationship between

them participating in the world economy.

external and in-house lawyers?

Prosperity has increased around the world,

The relationship between in-house and external

resulting in more activities, companies, banks andlawyers should be one of deep mutual respect. It’s

the like, but sometimes in more mayhem anda tough job wherever you are.

instability — leading in turn to more laws tocontrol the situation. Probably the biggest fields oflaw are taxation and the various regulatory fields,
both of which are looking a bit top-heavy in many
countries.

40 www.inhousecommunity.com

The Thing About … Philip Wood

Philip Wood in
the National Gallery— Dame Paula Rego’s
mural of fairy tales
behind.
Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

41

ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL Q&A“Since I believe that laws are the crystallised andlargest set of our moral codes necessary for oursocieties, I don’t believe that cold winds will blowin the faculties of law and that the offices oflawyers will crumble to dust. I see quite theopposite happening”

Will legal tech disrupt law firms and in-housecounsel?
We need legal tech in order to able to practice at
all these days. In my view a lot more progressneeds to be made.

Philip’s professional and academic experience

Who is / was your mentor?

Philip Wood CBE, QC (Hon), BA (Cape Town), MA (Oxford) was
formerly a partner and head of the Banking Department at Allen& Overy LLP and was head of the firm’s Global Law Intelligence
Unit for ten years. He retired from the firm after 50 years
there, practising mainly in the field of international finance.
He studied English literature at Oxford. He was a triple prizewinner in his Law Society qualifying exams.He is the author of
about 23 books, all on the law. The latest edition of his works inthe series of the Law and Practice of International Finance waspublished by Sweet & Maxwell in June/July 2019. This series hasnine volumes, each of which is a stand-alone book. The books
relate to international loans and bonds, guarantees, legal
opinions, insolvency, security interests, set-off and netting,derivatives, project finance, securitisations, regulation ofinternational finance, conflict of laws, and many other subjects.
Two of the books have summaries of insolvency law and the law
relating to security interests in all 321 jurisdictions of theworld.
His university textbook on international finance has beentranslated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean. He has publisheda book of maps on world financial law.
Recent articles include those on choice of governing law.
The paperback edition of “The Fall of the Priests and the Riseof the Lawyers” (Bloomsbury/Hart) came out in 2017 - a bookfor the general reader about the role of law generally.
He has lectured at over 60 universities world-wide and hastaught post-graduate courses at the Universities of Oxford andCambridge. He has also taught at the London School of
Economics and Political Science and at Queen Mary University
London. He has an honorary doctorate from the University ofLund, Sweden.
He was awarded two honours by
the Queen.

I have always received a lot of support and advice
from my family and friends.
Towards the end of “The Fall of Priests” youstate: “Delighting in our existence requires
effort and it is the effort that reaps the
rewards”. Would you please elaborate on thisstatement in the context of your own experience– and with those of us who find the struggle formental well-being a daily chore also in mind?
I believe that we should always endeavour
positively to be happy and to rejoice in existence,
if we can - even when the going is really hard.
What is your hinterland?
I am not sure what “hinterland” is! I have somepassions apart from law. I love playing tunes on the
piano and have started a book on how to playsongs on keyboard simply. I love working on theland – I am building a “unicursal path of life” on
my land. The path is about a mile long and has
philosophical allegories embedded in it. It also has
a symbolic secret.

42 www.inhousecommunity.com

ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL DIRECTYour ‘at a glance’ guide to some of the region’s top service providers.
Indicates an Asian-mena Counsel Firm of the Year.

2017

2018

One of this firm’s five largest practice areas in this jurisdiction.

2019

Indicates a full service firm in this jurisdiction.

MR

An Asian-mena Counsel Most Responsive Firm of the Year.

MR

An Asian-mena Counsel Honourable Mention Most Responsive Firm of the Year.

Practice Area key:
INV
COM
AV
BF
CM
REG

Alt’ Investment Funds (inc. PE)
Antitrust / Competition
Aviation
Banking & FinanceCapital Markets
Compliance / Regulatory

CMA
E
ENR
ENV
FT
INS

— Law Firms —ASIA
CAMBODIA

IP

CM

RE

REG

INDIA

Tel:
(86) 10 6590 6639
Email:
Beijing@east-concord.com
Contact: Mr. Dajin Li
Website: www.east-concord.com
IP

LDR

Tel:
(86) 21 31358666
Email:
master@llinkslaw.com
Website: www.llinkslaw.com
CM

CMA

INV

LDR

W. K. To & Co.

Tel:(86) 10 8587 5076
Email:
wktoco@wktoco.com
Contact: Cindy Chen
Website: www.wktoco.com
CMA

E

LDR

INV

RE

REG

HONG KONG

E

Tel:(852) 2524 7106
Email:
hongkong@conyers.com
Contact: Christopher W.H. Bickley, Partner, Head ofHong Kong Office
Website: www.conyers.com
CMA

INV

LDR

Tel:
(852) 2287 1900
Email:
xavierlesourne_hk@elvingerhoss.lu
Contacts: Mr Xavier Le Sourne, Partner,
Ms Charlotte Chen, Counsel
Website: www.elvingerhoss.lu* Elvinger Hoss Prussen’s Hong Kong office provides inbound andoutbound legal services only under Luxembourg law
BF

CM

CMA

INV

TX

Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

2017

2018

CMA

E

LDR

PF

LDR

RE

Tel:
(62) 21 574 7181 (Hunting)
Email:
smt@makeslaw.com
Contacts: Dr. Yozua Makes, SH, LL.M., MM
Website: www.makeslaw.com

REG

BF

2017

2018

2019

CM

CMA

FT

RES

Mochtar Karuwin Komar

2016

2017

2018

2018

2019

Tel:
(62) 21 5711130
Email:
mail@mkklaw.net, ek@mkklaw.net
Contact: Emir Kusumaatmadja
Website: www.mkklaw.net

LDR

AV

CMA

ENR

LDR

PF

Clasis Law

Tel:(91) 11 4213 0000, (91) 22 4910 0000
Email:
info@clasislaw.com
Contacts: Vineet Aneja, Mustafa Motiwala
Website: www.clasislaw.com
CMA

E

LDR

REG

HSA Advocates

SSEK Legal Consultants

ENR

INV

RES

2019

LDR

BF

BF

2017

Tel:
(62) 21 831 5005, 831 5025
Email:
lgs@lgslaw.co.id
Contacts: Dr. M. Idwan (‘Kiki’) Ganie
Website: http://www.lgslaw.co.id
INS

RE

2019

CM

CMA

IF

PF

RES

Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo

COM

ENR

Tel:		 (603) 2070 0466
Email: 		 enquiry@adnansundralow.com
Contact(s): Deepak Sadasivan, Rodney D’Cruz
Website: 		 www.asl.com.myTel:(62) 21 2965 1251
Email:
emir.pohan@eplaw.id
Contact: Emir Pohan
Website: www.eplaw.id

CMA

E

Adnan Sundra & Low

Emir Pohan & Partners

LDR

CMA

MALAYSIAPFINDONESIA

E

2017

Tel:
(62) 21 521 2038, 2953 2000
Email:
ssek@ssek.com
Contact: Denny Rahmansyah - Managing Partner
Website: www.ssek.com
Blog:
Indonesia Law Blog
(https://www.ssek.com/indonesia-law-blog)
Twitter: @ssek_lawfirm

Tel:(91) 11 6638 7000
Email:
mail@hsalegal.com
Contact: jayamon.vp@hsalegal.com
Website: https://hsalegal.com/

COM

Elvinger Hoss Prussen

2016

Makes & Partners Law Firm

Tel:(91) 120 4059300
Email:
pravin@anandandanand.com
Contact: Pravin Anand - Managing Partner
Website: www.anandandanand.com

CMA

CM

TX
TMT

2018

Conyers Dill & Pearman

BF

RE
RES

Projects & Project Finance(inc. Infrastructure)
Real Estate / Construction
Restructuring & Insolvency
Taxation
Telecoms, Media & TechnologyTel:(62) 21 5080 8300, 252 1272
Email:
info@makarim.com
Contact: Lia Alizia
Website: www.makarim.com

REG

Anand and AnandIP

Llinks Law Offices

BF

CMA

PF

Makarim & Taira S.

Tel:(852) 3628 0000
Email:
mail@wktoco.com
Contact: Vincent To
Website: www.wktoco.com

East & Concord Partners

CMA

MS

W. K. To & Co.

CMA

CM

LDR

Tel:
(852) 2969 5300
Email:
Vivien.teu@vteu.co
Contact: Vivien Teu, Managing Partner
Website: www.vteu.co

CHINA

BF

IF
LS

Intellectual Property
International Arbitration
Islamic Finance
Life Sciences / Healthcare
Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Maritime & Shipping

BF

Tel:
(855) 23 964 876, (855) 23 987 876
Email:
borana@mar-associates.com
Contact: MAR Samborana (Mr.)
Website: www.mar-associates.com
E

IP
IA

Vivien Teu & Co LLP

BF

MAR & Associates

CMA

Corporate & M&A
Employment
Energy & Natural Resources
Environment
FinTechInsurance

LDR

PF

2018

2019

Trowers & Hamlins LLP

2017

2018

2019

Tel:
(601) 2615 0186
Email:
nwhite@trowers.com
Contact: Nick White - Partner
Website: www.trowers.com
MR

BF

CMA

ENR

IF

PF

43

ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL DIRECT
PHILIPPINES
Yulchon LLC
ACCRALAW (Angara Abello Concepcion
Regala and Cruz Law Offices)
2017

2018

2019

Tel:
(632) 830 8000
Email:
accra@accralaw.com
Contacts: Emerico O. De Guzman, Ana Lourdes Teresa A.
Oracion, Neptali B. Salvanera
Website: www.accralaw.com
MR

CMA

E

IP

LDR

2017

2018

2019

Weerawong, Chinnavat & Partners Ltd.

LDR

Tel:
(66) 2 264 8000
Email:
Veeranuch.t@weerawongcp.com
Contacts: Veeranuch Thammavaranucupt - Senior Partner
Website: www.weerawongcp.com

Tel:(82-2) 528 5200
Email:
mail@yulchon.com
Website: www.yulchon.com
MR

COM

CMA

2017

IP

TX

MR

Tel:
(8862) 25856688
Email:
email@deepnfar.com.tw
Contact: Mr. C. F. Tsai
Website: www.deepnfar.com.tw

2019

Tel:
(632) 822-0808
Email:
info@divinalaw.com
Contact: Nilo T. Divina, Managing Partner
Website: www.divinalaw.com
MR

BF

CMA

E

LDR

COM

TMT

LDR

CM

IP

CM

LDR

CMA

INV

REG

LDR

PF

2019

CMA

LDR

RE

RES

Frasers Law Company

Tel:(66) 2633 9088
Email:
contactus@thecapitallaw.com
Contact: Barbara Parr - Business Development Manager(barbara@thecapitallaw.com)
Website: www.thecapitallaw.com(632) 834 2551, (632) 832 7198,(632) 833 8534
Email:
ramorales@primuslex.com
Contact: Mr. Rafael Morales - Managing Partner
Website: www.primuslex.com
CMA

IP

CMA

Tel:
(84) 24 3933 2129
Email:
info-hn@bizconsult.vn
Contact: Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - (84) 24 3933 2129
Website: www.bizconsult.vn

The Capital Law Office Limited

Tel:

CM

E

CM

Bizconsult Law Firm

THAILAND

Morales & Justiniano

BF

CM

2019

VIETNAM

Deep & Far Attorneys-at-Law
DivinaLaw

BF

TAIWAN

TX

2018

2019

Tel:
(84) 28 3824 2733
Email:
legalinquiries@frasersvn.com
Website: www.frasersvn.com
BF

CM

CMA

PF

TMT

TX

Global Vietnam Lawyers LLC
Ocampo & Suralvo Law Offices

Chandler MHM Limited

Tel:(632) 625 0765
Email:
info@ocamposuralvo.com
Contact: Jude Ocampo
Website: www.ocamposuralvo.com
CMA

ENR

PF

TX

2017

2018

Tel:
Email:(66) 2266 6485
jessada.s@chandlermhm.com
satoshi.kawai@chandlermhm.com
Contacts: Jessada Sawatdipong, Satoshi Kawai
Website: www.chandlermhm.com

TMT

MR

BF

CMA

ENR

PF

RE

SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan
2017

2018

2019

Tel:
(632) 8982 3500, 3600, 3700
Email:
sshg@syciplaw.com
Contact: Hector M. de Leon, Jr. - Managing Partner
Website: www.syciplaw.com
MR

BF

CMA

E

ENR

PF

SOUTH KOREA
Bae, Kim & Lee LLC

2017

2018

2019

Tel:
(82 2) 3404 0000
Email:
bkl@bkl.co.kr
Contact: Kyong Sun Jung
Website: www.bkl.co.kr
MR

BF

Kudun & Partners Limited(66) 2 838 1750
info@kap.co.th
kudun.s@kap.co.th
chinawat.a@kap.co.th
pariyapol.k@kap.co.th
Contacts: Kudun Sukhumananda - Capital Markets,
Corporate M&A, Banking & Finance
Chinawat Assavapokee - Tax, Corporate
Restructuring, Insolvency
Pariyapol Kamolsilp - Litigation / Dispute
Resolution
Website: www.kap.co.th
MR

CMA

IA

LDR

2019

Tel:
Email:

CMA

CM

LDR

RES

TX

RE

Pisut and Partners Co., Ltd.
Kim & Chang

2017

2018

COM

BF

CMA

2019

IP

CMA

LDR

CM

CMA

E

LDR

IP

LDR

RE

Russin & Vecchi

REG

2017

2018

MR

CMA

VILAF

E

IP

INS

2017

2018

2019

TMT

Tel:
Email:(84) 28 3827 7300, (84) 24 3934 8530
duyen@vilaf.com.vn, tung@vilaf.com.vn,
anh@vilaf.com.vn
Contacts: Vo Ha Duyen, Ngo Thanh tung,
Dang Duong Anh
Website: www.vilaf.com.vn
MR

BF

CMA

RE

ENR

LDR

— Law Firms —MIDDLE EASTRE

BAHRAIN
Yoon & Yang LLC

2017

2018

2019

Tel:
(82 2) 6003 7000
Email:
yoonyang@yoonyang.com
Contacts: Jinsu Jeong, Junsang Lee, Myung Soo Lee
Website: www.yoonyang.com
MR

COM

E

IP

LDR

TX

44 www.inhousecommunity.com

Warot Business Consultant Ltd.

Tel:(66) 81802 5698
Email:
warot@warotbusinessconsultant.com
Contact: Mr. Warot Wanakankowit
Website: www.warotbusinessconsultant.com
CM

CMA

E

REG

TX

2019

Ho Chi Minh Office:Tel:(84) 28 3824-3026
Email:
lawyers@russinvecchi.com.vn
Contacts: Sesto E Vecchi - Managing Partner
Nguyen Huu Minh Nhut - Partner
Nguyen Huu Hoai - Partner
Hanoi Office:Tel:(84) 24 3825-1700
Email:
lawyers@russinvecchi.com.vn
Contact: Mai Minh Hang - Partner
Website: www.russinvecchi.com.vn

Tel:(66) 202 66226, 202 66227
Email:
info@pisutandpartners.com
Contacts: Mr. Pisut Rakwong
Website: www.pisutandpartners.com

Tel:(82-2) 3703-1114
Email:
lawkim@kimchang.com
Website: www.kimchang.com
MR

2019

Tel:
(84) 28 3622 3555
Email:
info@gvlawyers.com.vn
Contacts: Nguyen Gia Huy Chuong
Website: www.gvlawyers.com.vn

Trowers & Hamlins

Tel:(973) 1 751 5600
Email:
bahrain@trowers.com
Contact: Louise Edwards - Office Manager
Website: www.trowers.com
BF

CMA

IF

LDR

RE

OMAN

Alternative— Legal Service —Providers

Trowers & Hamlins

Tel:(968) 2 468 2900
Email:
oman@trowers.com
Contact: Louise Edwards - Office Manager
Website: www.trowers.com
BF

CMA

LDR

PF

RE

KorumLegal

Email:
Titus.Rahiri@korumlegal.com
Contact: Titus Rahiri
Website: www.korumlegal.com

UAE
Afridi & Angell

2016

CMA

LDR

RE

Hong Kong – (852) 2920 9100
Singapore – (65) 6557 4163
Beijing – (86) 10 6567 8729
Shanghai – (86) 10 6372 1098
Email:
als@alsrecruit.com
Website: alsrecruit.com

Tel:

Vario from Pinsent Masons (HK) Ltd

Tel:(852) 2294 3454
Email:
enquiries@pinsentmasonsvario.com
Contact: Kirsty Dougan, Managing Director, Vario Asia
Website: https://pinsentmasonsvario.com

REG

2019

Tel:
(971) 4 432.3671
Email:
gunson@amereller.com
Contact: Christopher Gunson
Website: www.amereller.com
E

Tel:

Singapore – (65) 6808 6635
Hong Kong – (852) 3978 1369
Email:
Jessica.deery@horizon-recruit.com
Website: www.horizon-recruit.com

Hughes-Castell
Tel:

AMERELLER

CMA

ALS International

Horizon Recruitment

2019

Tel:
(971) 4 330 3900
Email:
dubai@afridi-angell.com
Contact: Bashir Ahmed - Managing Partner
Website: www.afridi-angell.com
BF— Recruitment —

IA

LDR

Risk, Investigation— and Legal —Support Services

REG

Hong Kong (852) 2520 1168
Singapore (65) 6220 2722
Beijing (86) 10 6581 1781
Shanghai (86) 21 2206 1200
Email:
hughes@hughes-castell.com.hk
Website: www.hughes-castell.com

Jowers Vargas
Horizons & Co

Berkeley Research Group

2019

Tel:
(971) 4 354 4444
Email:
info@horizlaw.ae
Contact: Adv. Ali Al Zarooni
Website: www.horizlaw.ae
CMA

E

LDR

PF

Tel:
(852) 2297 2270
Email:
switchell@thinkbrg.com; mhadi@thinkbrg.com
Contacts: Stuart Witchell (Managing Director, Hong Kong)
Mustafa Hadi (Managing Director, Hong Kong)
Website: https://www.thinkbrg.com/

RE

Trowers & Hamlins LLP

2015

2016

Dubai office:Tel:(971) 4 351 9201
Email:
dubai@trowers.com
Contact: Jehan Selim - Office Manager
Abu Dhabi office:Tel:(971) 2 410 7600
Email:
abudhabi@trowers.com
Contact: Jehan Selim - Office Manager
Website: www.trowers.com
BF

CMA

LDR

PF

RES

— Arbitration —Services
Beijing Arbitration Commission /Beijing International Arbitration Center(Concurrently use)Tel:(86) 10 85659558
Email:
xujie@bjac.org.cn
Contact: Mr. Terence Xu（許捷）
Website: www.bjac.org.cn

Lewis Sanders

Tel:(852) 2537 7410
Email:
recruit@lewissanders.com
Website: www.lewissanders.com

IMF BenthamTel:(65) 6622 5397, (65) 6622 5396
Contact: Tom Glasgow - Investment Manager (Asia)
Email:
tglasgow@imf.sg
Website: www.imf.sg

Law In OrderSingapore Office:Tel:(65) 6714 6655
Email:
singapore@lawinorder.com
Contacts: Shae Teo, Director
Website: www.lawinorder.com.sg
Hong Kong Office:Tel:(852) 5803 0000
Email:
hongkong@lawinorder.com
Contacts: Sarah Bell, Director
Website: www.lawinorder.com.hk— Other Services —MEDITATION
Kadampa Meditation Centre Hong Kong

KMC HK is a registered non-profit organisation. We offer
systematic meditation and study programmes throughdrop-in classes, day courses, lunchtime meditations,weekend retreats and other classes.
Tel:(852) 2507 2237
Email:
info@meditation.hk
Website: www.meditation.hk

SPORT & LEISURE
Splash Diving (HK) Limited

LegalComet Pte Ltd (LEGALCOMET)
Tel:(65) 8118 1175
Contact: Michael Lew, Founder & CEO
Email:
michael@legalcomet.com
Website: www.legalcomet.com

Maxwell Chambers Pte Ltd

Tel:(65) 6595 9010
Email:
info@maxwell-chambers.com
Website: http://maxwell-chambers.com

Tel:(852) 5808-4137
Email:
alexis@evanjowers.com
Website: https://www.evanjowers.com/— Translation —Learn to Dive and Fun Dive with the Winner of the PADI
Outstanding Dive Centre/Resort Business Award!
Tel:(852) 9047 9603, (852) 2792 4495
Email:
info@splashhk.com
Website: www.splashhk.com— Charitable —Organisations
Impact India Foundation

Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (Shenzhen Arbitration commission)
Tel:(86) 755 83501700, (86) 755 25831662
Email:
info@scia.com.cn
Website: www.scia.com.cn

Volume 17 Issue 4, 2020

Pacific Legal Translations Limited

Specialist translators serving the legal community.
Tel:(852) 2705 9456
Email:
translations@paclegal.com
Website: www.paclegal.com

An international initiative against avoidable disablement.
Promoted by the UNDP, UNICEF and the World HealthOrganization in association with the Government of India.
Tel:(91) 22 6633 9605-7
Email:
nkshirsagar@impactindia.org
Website: www.impactindia.org

45mycareerinlaw .com

Th,e b"est oppo,rtun:ities fromthe region 1 s best recruiters

www. in housecomm uni,y.,com