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

Clifford Chance has benefitted from its recent ‘best friends’ referral arrangement with Indian firm AZB & Partners. The UK firm’s new Singapore QFLP licence, combined with the AZB link, should see it through another strong year in corporate M&A. Lee Taylor, Philip Rapp and Ting Ting Tan lead the ranks.

Impressive work over the last year included instructions from Medco Energi Internasional and Encore International on the S$599 million sale of its more than 80% stake in Indonesia’s largest national onshore and offshore drilling contractor, Apexindo Pratama Duta, to local listed cement distributor PT Mitra Rajasa. The bidding auction culminated in a part cash and part convertible bond purchase, and addressed a number of Indonesian listed company takeover issues.

Acting for Barclays Bank in another key deal, Clifford Chance saw through the acquisition of private Indonesian retail bank PT Bank Akita without a hitch. It also continues to advise Barclays on acquisition possibilities for the future.

Linklaters Allen & Gledhill brought new partner Stuart Bedford to Singapore from his London post to supplement the loss of former leader Richard Good, who returned to Linklaters in London. Although new to the region, Bedford is shaping up to inherit Good’s credentials and has already won accolades from clients.

Allen & Overy commanded a stable year in the corporate M&A department, picking up key deals that included representing the financing syndicate in Marubeni Consortium’s S$3.96 billion purchase of Temasek’s Senoko Power.

The firm also acted on the S$2 billion acquisition of foreign-run Chinese wind energy group Honiton Energy for Tanti Group, assisting the Indian buyer to structure its purchase through a joint venture vehicle with Arcapita Bank.

Representing another Indian firm, Sarda Energy & Minerals, Allen & Overy advised on a special purpose joint venture with the Indonesian company PT Tigadiya, based in Singapore and worth $40 million, which will allow its client access to Indonesian coal mines. Ban Leong Oo and Christopher Moore are recognised leaders in the group.

Latham & Watkins has been stepping up its corporate M&A game, working on a series of high-profiles deals. Mark Nelson is a highly respected leader on the team.

Opposite local representation from WongPartnership and Rajah & Tann, the firm acted for Lion Power’s successful Marubeni-led consortium in its US$2.56 billion bid to buy the city-state’s biggest power generator Senoko Power from state-owned Temasek. The firm also nabbed an advisory role to Satyam on Computer Services’ stirring US$351 million 31% stake sale to Tech Mahindra.

The firm also acted for Temasek wholly-owned subsidiary Fullerton Financial in the S$1.77 billion sale to MayBank of Sorak Financial, a holding company controlling listed PT Bank Internasional Indonesia.

In another exceptional deal, the team acted for Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat), the largest telecom services provider in the Middle East, in its purchase of a 45% stake in Indian operator Swan Telecom for S$900 million cash consideration.

Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy impresses in the corporate M&A division thanks to the reputation and leadership of local managing partner David Zemans. The firm assisted PT Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo) to secure both the US$360 million senior and US$65 million mezzanine facilities, which financed its acquisition of Hutchinson Telecom Towers in Indonesia.

More starring roles included acting for PT Mitra Rajasa on the purchase of Indonesia’s largest drilling contractor PT Apexindo Pratama Duta for US$683 million.

White & Case brought in partner William Kirschner to lead corporate M&A and private equity in Southeast Asia and also to direct India work globally.

A notable corporate restructuring saw the firm represent Goldman Sachs and Citigroup in the sale of their ultimate interests in PT Adaro Indonesia, PT Indonesia Bulk Terminal and Coaltrade Services to PT Adaro Energy. The sale was coordinated with PT Adaro Energy’s US$1.3 billion IPO so that a portion of the proceeds were used to subscribe for the offering.

Another standout deal saw the firm act for Lehman Brothers on the divestment of its India businesses to Nomura Holdings for S$70 million. White & Case again represented Lehman Brothers in the restructuring of a US$130 million investment in KSK Electricity Financing India, including a pre-IPO investment in Indian power developer KSK Energy Ventures, now listed on the BSE and NSE. Doug Peel is one of the most-sought after names in the group.

Clients describe the practice at Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow as extremely efficient in terms of delivering on time. They also praise its understanding of commercial transactions, with the commercial intent usually captured perfectly in the documents that they draft. Partner Andrew Martin comes highly recommended.

Herbert Smith added Linklaters’ London partner Richard Nelson to the team for his focus on projects and infrastructure deals. Another partner, David Dawborn, remains on secondment to Herbies’ associated firm in Indonesia.

The team’s recent endeavours have included representing Tata Power on the international aspects of bids for Tuas Power, Senoko Power and Power Seraya. It also advised First Choice Holidays, now Tui Travel, on the S$55 million acquisition of its internet retail business Asiarooms.com. And it acted for GdF Suez on its investment in a joint venture with Singapore Power subsidiary Power Gas for the purpose of developing Singapore’s first LNG terminal.

Lovells Lee & Lee advised the vendors group – comprising PT Lumbung Artakencana, PT Alas Pusaka and a number of individual shareholders – on the US$607.5 million sale of nearly 90% of the shares of Bank Ekonomi to a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC. It was assisted on the deal by Indonesian law firm Makes & Partners.

London partner Jill Gauntlett relocated to Norton Rose’s Singapore office in May 2009. The team assisted HSBC to complete an acquisition of nearly 90% of PT Bank Ekonomi Raharja, through its wholly-owned UK subsidiary HSBC Asia Pacific Holdings, for a consideration of S$607.5 million. HSBC takes 38.8% from PT Lumbung Artakencana, 38.6% from PT Alas Pusaka, and the remaining stake from the target’s individual shareholders.