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

Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee strengthened its capital markets team this year with the arrival from London of practice head Andrew Carey, a highly regarded debt capital markets (DCM) specialist.

With a particular focus on cross border and cross practice work, the firm picked up a number of noteworthy mandates. In one transaction, respected senior associate Yvette Abel headed a team advising The Bank of New York Mellon as trustee, paying agent and transfer agent on the issue of US$300 million 3.625% unsecured convertible bonds due 2015 by Paladin Energy. This was one of the largest bond offerings out of Australia in 2010.

Abel also advised The Bank of New York Mellon as trustee, paying agent and transfer agent on the issue of US$400 million 5.5% bonds due 2017 by SM Investments. This was one of the largest bond offerings out of the Philippines last year.

In the banking space, the firm, led by managing partner and practice head James Harris advised ADB on the US$40 million financing to Syarikat SESCO Berhad to build a 275kV transmission infrastructure on the Malaysian section of Sarawak to West Kalimantan Link. Primary market transaction specialist Philip Robb is another key contributor in this sector.

Led by private equity partner Stephanie Keen, Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee has been involved on several high profile transactions this year.

In one significant mandate, Keen together with partner Brad Roach, led a team advising Medco Energi Internasional on the US$2.8 billion Donggi-Senoro LNG Project in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. As the first joint LNG project between Japan, Korea and Indonesia, this was a particularly complex transaction and involved the establishment of gas sales agreements that were robust enough to allow the project to seek to raise limited recourse financing. No other Indonesian LNG projects had been structured in this way.

This year, the firm also expanded its private equity practice to cover fund formation advice in addition to transactional matters.

Headed up by managing partner James Harris, Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee’s seven partner group continues to cement its reputation as the ‘go to’ firm for infrastructure projects in Singapore and across the Southeast Asia region.

Following this year’s departure of project finance expert Ken Hawkes to White & Case, the team was strengthened by the arrival of partner Philip Robb who relocated from London in 2010. Robb has kept busy since his arrival, advising on a broad range of domestic and international deals including several finance deals for Standard Chartered Bank involving projects in India.

The firm has also expanded its reputation in the PPP space, and was mandated this year to advise on projects such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Mongolia’s PPP initiatives.

In the mainstream market, the firm acted on the recourse financing of an integrated greenfield cement project, with captive power plant and dedicated railway, in India.

Peers expect big things from the group over the next year, following the addition of new partner and engineering, procurement and construction specialist Alex Wong.