Asialaw Profiles
The Guide to the legal markets of the Asia-Pacific

Allen & Overy

The Grant Fuzi led team at Allen & Overy is starting to make an impact in the Australian banking and finance space. The firm advised JP Morgan, Banco Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland and Toronto-Dominion Bank on the corporate finance aspects of a US$45 billion loan facility as part of the financing for BHP Billiton’s bid to acquire Potash Corp of Saskatchewan.

DLA Piper

DLA Piper’s banking and finance team is making major progress in this sector. One client of the practice says: “We have a long standing association with the firm and are entirely comfortable with the professional and pronotable work of the partners and support staff.”

Deal highlights included advising Westpac Banking Corporation on a syndicated warehouse finance repurchase facility for Emerald Grain Australia. This was an innovative and time-critical facility with a number of structuring challenges such as material GST issues.

Johnson Winter & Slattery

Johnson Winter & Slattery’s finance practice specialises in finance borrowing and sponsorship. The firm acts for Australian and international entities on high profile complex acquisitions, projects and cross border finance transactions. Last year saw the firm continue its advising role for the SEA Gas Partnership on the refinancing of its US$450 million project debt facility.

DLA Piper acted for Ebro Foods on its controversial and extremely high profile proposed acquisition of listed company Ricegrowers, which trades as SunRice. Another highlight was advising Public Infrastructure Partners LP on all aspects of its 49.9% investment in the Melbourne Convention Centre through a public private partnership.

DLA Piper

DLA Piper’s construction team works hand-in-hand with the finance and project practices. It continues to grow its public private partnership practice under partner David Nancarrow. The firm is sole legal adviser to Oakajee Port & Rail on its agreement with the State of Western Australia to develop its port and rail infrastructure.

DLA Piper has been actively boosting its capability in this area of practice by hiring Bill Glover from Freehills and promoting to partner David Nacarrow, Stephen Webb and David Harley.

The firm is advising the manager of the Australia Premium Iron JV in relation to the US$5.4 billion West Pilbara Iron Ore Project. This project involves the construction of an iron ore mine, a 360 kilometre railway and a new port in the Pilbara region.

Other highlights include acting as sole legal adviser to Oakajee Port and Rail, a 50:50 JV between Murchison Metals and Mitsubishi Development.

“The firm’s ability in projects to draw on its depth in Australia and internationally allows DLA Piper to provide a range of innovate advice,” says one client. “The firm’s labour and employment team has very consistent depth of knowledge and technical expertise.”

Partner Allan Drake-Brockman has a “breadth of experience while also maintaining an integrated approach on how legal services are provided,” says another client. “He seems to strike the right balance.”

The team is led by Simon Billing, who successfully defended ASX-listed iron ore mining company Fortescue Metals Group against 18 criminal charges brought under the Western Australia Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The firm also acted for Melbourne’s internationally renowned Alfred Hospital in defending a US$32.5 million defamation and unfair dismissal claim brought by its former Head of Trauma surgeon Dr Thomas Kossmann.

“DLA Piper continues to give me first class advice and representation. The firm is highly skilled and very knowledgeable on Australian tax matters,” says one client. Partner and head of tax Jock McCormack “anticipates my needs and always delivers, even in the very tightest of timetables”, says another client.

The firm advised Public Infrastructure Partners on all aspects of its 49.9% investment in the Melbourne Convention Centre. This US$540 million public private partnership was a complex transaction involving both debt and equity components in a heavily tax focused structure.

Another notable transaction was advising Whitefield and Sylvastate in respect to their merger. The team provided the tax framework to structure the acquisition, and obtained a class ruling from the Australian Taxation Office regarding tax issues for shareholders.

DLA Piper has strong relationships with Hong Kong companies that lead to a number of banking and finance transactions. In one recent deal, the team advised Modern Terminals in a HK$4.1 billion syndicated term loan and revolving credit facility. The firm also has an active equity capital markets practice, and advises Chinese and Hong Kong companies on small to mid-sized IPOs. It is also active on the debt side.

DLA Piper’s China M&A team enjoys a critical mass of bilingual Mandarin and English speaking lawyers, which is a huge asset to domestic and international companies looking to do cross-border transactions. This past year, partners Mabel Lui and Jeffrey Mak advised an investor consortium, made up of Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings (CKI), Hong Kong Electric Holdings (HEH) and the Li Ka Shing foundation, on an outbound acquisition of Électricité de France’s UK electricity distribution assets. The deal was valued at US$9.44 billion.

DLA Piper’s energy and natural resources practice includes veteran partner Wan Li, who is based in the firm’s Shanghai office and has deep knowledge of corporate transactions in this sector. The firm is known for being able to handle a large volume of M&A and capital markets transactions, many of which are often energy or natural resources related.

DLA Piper’s China team recently advised China Coal Import & Export Company on its acquisition of a 51% interest in Queensland-based MetroCoal for US$30 million. The acquisition highlighted the multijurisdictional capacity of the firm, and also showed the group’s ability to advise PRC energy companies on key outbound acquisitions.

DLA Piper completes a large volume of small to mid-sized equity capital markets deals in Hong Kong, and is known for its ability to work with Hong Kong and Chinese companies. Partners Stephen Peepels and Esther Leung are co-heads of the firm’s Asia capital markets team.

In 2010, the team represented LG Display as borrower and issuer in relation to a US$600 million financing arrangement, which comprised a US$350 million offshore floating rate note facility and a US$250 million onshore term loan facility.

The M&A team at DLA Piper is known for being able to handle a large volume of small and mid-sized deals for local Hong Kong and Chinese companies doing cross border work.

The firm receives strong praise from clients. “We have instructed DLA on acquisition work and it has rich knowledge in this regard,” says one client.

DLA Piper recently represented Sinom Investments on the sale of 60% of its equity in Hong Kong incorporated Asia Iron to Chongquing Chonggang Minerals Development.

Partner Matt Glynn serves as head of DLA Piper’s intellectual property and technology practice across Asia, while partner Edward Chatterton leads its Hong Kong IP group. DLA Piper has been investing in its IP offering in Hong Kong this year, and its hard work is starting to pay off. The firm now has a client list that includes leading companies such as HSBC, The Gap, Christie’s, Ping An, Polo Ralph Lauren and Pfizer.

DLA Piper has one of the largest tax teams in Hong Kong, with three partners and 29 fee earners. The overall practice is headed by veteran partner Daniel Chan. DLA Piper’s tax professionals form a standalone group, but much of the team’s work supports the firm’s M&A practice.

This past year, the firm has been representing an increasing number of Fortune 500 companies and has also been developing its capability in more acute tax areas like transfer pricing, executive compensation, private banking and personal tax planning.

In January 2011, partner Stephen Nelson joined DLA Piper’s team and brought over 25 years of experience on PRC tax issues to the group.

DLA Piper

Partner David Robbins takes charge of the projects and energy practice at DLA Piper and the firm is investing in its project finance practice. It continues to advise lenders and developers on various projects this year. Some of the firm’s active clients include JBIC and Mizuho Corporate Bank.

Chanvitaya Suvarnapunya heads DLA Piper’s M&A team. An experienced partner who has worked on over 150 major public deals, Suvarnapunya leads the M&A group in advising on an array of joint venture and M&A transactions across multiple industry sectors. Among other projects, the M&A team is advising on the proposed structure for a JV arrangement between the University of Central Lancashire and a Thai investor for the purposes of creating a university in Thailand.

Partners Dusadee Jittasaiyapan and Supreedee Nimitkul lead DLA Piper’s real estate practice, which handles a wide array of real estate related matters. Senior consultant Tim Dobson joined the team in 2011, and brings a depth of corporate experience in real estate-related matters to the group. The growing team boasts an impressive list of clients including Hilton, Hyatt, Starwood, Marriott, Dusit Thani, La Tour Indochine and ResortCom Elite.

One client praises DLA Piper’s construction and real estate team by saying that it was “very creative and outside the box in its thinking”, and “there were no questions asked that it could not answer”.

DLA Piper’s team continues to advise key client Tesco Lotus (via Ek-Chai Distribution System Company) on an array of domestic real estate-related matters, especially when it comes to new project development and existing properties. The construction and real estate partners provide due diligence on property, planning, advising and preparing contracts for the acquisition of leaseholds and freeholds of land and/or buildings for the operation of retail and wholesale businesses. The firm also represents Tesco Lotus on construction and operation-related issues.

DLA Piper’s Bangkok dispute resolution group represents domestic and regional clients in court proceedings, restructurings and on various contentious matters.

The disputes team is representing the Kingdom of Thailand on a dispute over tollway fees filed by German company Walter Bau AG – which is undergoing US liquidation proceedings – at the US District Court Southern District of New York.

The firm’s dispute partners also continue to advise Thai, UK and Singaporean insurers and reinsurers in connection with property damage that arose from the 2010 Red Shirt protest. The clients in that matter include Chartis, ACE, Allianz C.P., AXA, IAG, QBE and Generali, and the claims apply to the CentralWorld, Center One and Stock Exchange of Thailand buildings among others.

Leading partners in the practice include Peter Shelford, Chatchai Inthasuwan and Suraphon Rittipongchusit.

Chanvitaya Suvarnapunya and Supreedee Nimitkul lead the intellectual property practice at DLA Piper. The team uses a multidisciplinary approach to advising clients on an array of IP issues including licensing, copyrights, patents, trade marks and commercial classification issues.

“The firm is highly professional and quick in its response,” says one client. “You can count on it for delivery.”

DLA Piper

Chanvitaya Suvarnapunya and Supreedee Nimitkul are leading partners in DLA Piper’s tax practice, which advises international and local corporations as well as individuals on transaction tax issues. They are supported by professional tax expert Mitsuru Nishiuwatoko, who has experience advising multinational corporations looking to invest in Thailand on transfer pricing and procedure issues.