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

Rajah & Tann is a powerful performer in the banking and finance market. The firm represented the Lion Power consortium on its S$3.65 billion winning bid for Temasek Holding’s Senoko Power, which saw Lion Power assume S$323 million of Senoko Power’s net debt. Soon Choo Hock is a standout banking lawyer at the firm.

Rajah & Tann offers extensive corporate and M&A services to local and international clients. The firm has an office in Shanghai and an associate office in Malaysia, as well as Japanese and Indonesian desks. This set-up is ideal for companies looking at regional transactions. Lion Power Consortium used the firm in its winning bid of S$3.65 billion for Senako Power, owned by Temasek Holdings. The acquisition is partially funded by a short-term financing arrangement offered by Temasek.

The firm advised CapitaLand on the voluntary unconditional cash offer by DBS Bank on behalf of Somerset Capital to acquire all the shares that Somerset did not already own. The deal was valued at S$2.78 billion. Paris-listed company Gaz de France used the firm in a joint venture agreement with PowerGas to build and operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) field. The deal was valued at S$1.6 billion. The firm has a number of prominent lawyers, with Goh Kian Hwee and Sin Chei Liang co-heading the department. Chia Kim Huat and Christina Ng are also respected by the market.

Rajah & Tann is a respected firm for dispute resolution work, derived in part from its bench that contains seven senior counsel. The firm is well known for defending corporate, banking and insurance companies and can call the Law Society of Singapore as a client. Rajah & Tann was forced to draw on all its financial legal nous representing a local securities house during the worst of the financial crisis in 2008. The cases related to losses by investors in notes from investment banks Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.

HSBC employed Rajah & Tann’s services for a case filed by former customers relating to margin foreign exchange trading. The main claim brought by the plaintiffs was for US$2.9 million for the breach of an alleged oral collateral agreement in a FX transaction involving the purchase of US$22 million worth of Euros. The firm also represented BNP Paribas in a statutory demand on Jurong Shipyard for payments of amounts due to the termination of foreign exchange derivative transactions. Francis Xavier SC is head of the firm’s dispute resolution team and is a respected figure.