WongPartnership LLP

In recent years, increasing awareness of the climate crisis and net-zero carbon emissions targets set by national governments has built strong momentum for increased investment in climate action and mitigation projects. Blended finance, in particular, has emerged as a useful mechanism to encourage investment in infrastructure projects in developing nations, as it combines public funding, such as by development finance institutions (DFIs) or multilateral development banks (MDBs), with private financing to finance marginally bankable projects. In Southeast Asia, blended finance research network Convergence has reported that 107 transactions were recorded in the region amounting to a total value of US$20.7 billion in 2022. In Singapore, the government launched its flagship blended finance initiative Financing Asia's Transition Partnership (FAST-P) in December 2023, with leading local bank DBS Bank Ltd. recently announcing in May 2024 its provision of a blended finance loan to support the construction of a S$285.8 million water plant system in Indonesia, in what is expected to be a country-first type of blended financing. In this update, our Banking & Finance Partner Bernadette Tan highlights developments in the blended finance space.  Click on the link below to view the full update.

At the upcoming Construction Contracts and Dispute Resolutions (CCCDR 2024) conference to be held in Hanoi on 10 October 2024, our Energy, Projects, and Construction Partner Lesley Tan will share her expertise on risk management in the whole life cycle of public sector projects in Singapore. Lesley will be part of a distinguished panel featuring international legal and public infrastructure experts who will speak on “Risk Mitigation in Construction Contracts: Views from Employers of Public Infrastructure projects.”    We are looking forward to catching up with our valued clients, colleagues, and friends from Vietnam and the region during the conference. If you wish to meet us there, please reach out to our attending Partners, Lesley Tan, Kua Lay-Theng, and Foreign Lawyer Ba Duong "Donny" Trinh.   For more information on CCCDR 2024, please click here: https://lnkd.in/gmqyhwij 

Our Co-Head of Commercial & Corporate Disputes Joy Tan, who also leads the Corporate & Regulatory Investigations Practice at WongPartnership, was recently a member of a panel on “Enforcement and Risk Trends in the APAC Region” at the GIR Live: Asia-Pacific Investigations Summit 2024. This event brought together key stakeholders including private practitioners, government officials, and in-house counsel, looking to address critical issues facing the investigations community in the APAC region.   Joy, alongside panellists James Dalton, Regional Head, Disputes and Government Investigations Legal, Greater China & North Asia of Standard Chartered, Nicholas Seng, Legal Director, Investigations & Litigation APAC of Johnson & Johnson, and Mini vandePol, Foreign Attorney of Baker McKenzie, discussed key enforcement priorities and trends, approaches to enforcement and compliance, and practical tips and advice on conducting investigations in the region. The panel was moderated by Kyle Wombolt of Herbert Smith Freehills.

WongPartnership congratulates Wavemaker Partners, Southeast Asia’s leading venture capital firm, for winning “VC Deal of the Year” at the recent 32nd Annual Singapore Venture & Private Capital Association (SVCA) Awards.   Wavemaker Partners won the award for the US$80 million funding round it led for Lhoopa, an innovative prop-tech company from the Philippines revolutionising affordable housing in emerging markets. WongPartnership is delighted to have acted as transaction counsel to Wavemaker Partners in their investment in the US$20 million Series B funding round for Lhoopa, which forms part of a larger US$80 million funding round comprising both equity and debt components, making it one of the biggest funding rounds by a startup in the Philippines to date, and one of Southeast Asia’s largest startup funding rounds in 2024.   Our Co-Head of WPGrow: Start-Up / Venture Capital Practice, Kyle Lee, led the Firm’s team in the transaction.   To find out more about our WPGrow: Start-Up / Venture Capital Practice, click here - https://lnkd.in/gP2bMwCD

In our latest issue of Law Watch, we cover recent deals and matters that WongPartnership was involved in, our perspectives on certain significant decisions of the Singapore High Court, as well as other updates which include legal highlights and recent authorships. These include: 1. [Deal highlight] A proposed partnership between SATS and Mitsui & Co., Ltd to expand SATS’ food solutions businesses 2. [Analysis] “Objective Intended Purpose” Test to Determine Whether Third Party Payments to Tort Victims are Exempt from Rule Against Double Recovery, Court of Appeal Rules 3. [Analysis] Can Trustees Recoup Overpayments Made to Trust Beneficiaries for Redistribution to Underpaid Beneficiaries? 4. [Analysis] US Court Finds Use of Popular Internet Meme for Political Fundraising Not Fair Use Our Deputy Head of China Practice Miao Miao, Mergers & Acquisitions Partner Fi Ling Quak and Debt Capital Markets Partner Soon Keong Ho were involved in the deal, and our Intellectual Property, Technology & Data Group Chung Nian Lam and Partner Kylie Peh, Commercial & Corporate Disputes Partners Joel Quek, Alessa Pang and Daniel Gaw, Specialist & Private Client Disputes Partner Wenni Aw, and Private Wealth Partner David Chee shared their insights in this update. Click on the link below to read the full update.

Singapore Convention Week (SCW) 2024 saw our firm hosting and our lawyers speaking in a variety of events alongside leading global practitioners and thought leaders, addressing critical developments in arbitration, mediation, and the impact of AI on dispute resolution. To kick off the week, our Deputy Head of Commercial & Corporate Disputes Wendy Lin spoke at the annual SIAC Symposium on a plenary panel discussing the role of ethics in international arbitration. Our Deputy Managing Partner Sean Yu Chou, an LCIA Court member, gave opening remarks at a LCIA breakfast seminar where our Head of Energy, Projects & Construction Peng Cheng Tay shared the latest trends in construction, infrastructure and renewable energy disputes. At the UNCITRAL Academy Industry Capacity-Building Workshop organised by the Ministry of Law, our Head of International Arbitration Koh Swee Yen, S.C. examined the role of mediation in arbitration. Our Mergers & Acquisitions Senior Associate Megan Seah spoke about the impact of AI for insolvency professionals at INSOL International’s Singapore Seminar which was co-chaired by Head of Restructuring & Insolvency Smitha Menon. Our International Arbitration Partner Joel Quek discussed the role of courts in setting aside and enforcing arbitral awards at the IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum, and Wendy discussed the developments in the Singapore International Arbitration Act from 1994 to 2024 and contemporaneous issues with the Act at a commemorative event organised by The Law Society of Singapore. The week also saw our firm hosting various events, starting off with an event organised by the ASA Asia Chapter on “Effective Advocacy in International Arbitration: Perspectives from Different Jurisdictions”, at which our International Arbitration Partner, Daniel Gaw, shared his views on the topic. Together with Kirkland & Ellis, our firm hosted a seminar on investment exit strategies at which our Commercial & Corporate Disputes Partner Teck Wee Tiong, Smitha and Co-Head of Private Equity Fi Ling Quak shared their insights on the challenges facing investors in exiting investments in this time of political and economic uncertainty and practical tips on how investors may address these challenges. Following that, our firm, together with Jus Mundi, organised a panel discussion on the role of AI in shaping arbitration and international law which was moderated by Teck Wee. The week ended with Joel sharing his perspectives at a seminar on “Navigating the Maze: Challenges in Concurrent Proceedings” organised by the Asia-Pacific Forum for International Arbitration (AFIA) which our International Arbitration Partner Chong Wan Yee Monica co-chairs. We look forward to SCW next year!

We are delighted that “Vertex Tech's Acquisition of 17LIVE Inc” received recognition once again at the asialaw Awards 2024, where the matter was awarded “Editor's Choice Awards – Impact Deal and Case of the Year”. This same deal was also awarded “M&A Deal of the year” at the earlier ALB SE Asia Law Awards 2024. Our Head of Equity Capital Markets Gail Ong and Partners James Choo and Ong Kuan Chung acted for the joint financial advisers in Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation’s (VTAC) business combination with 17LIVE Inc. Gail and James also previously led the Firm’s team and acted for the issue managers and underwriting banks in VTAC’s initial public offering and listing on the Main Board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited in 2021. asialaw Awards 2024 recognises outstanding achievement among law firms across 20 jurisdictions in Asia, honouring excellence in 28 practice areas and industry sectors during the 2023-2024 eligibility period. The selection of winners is based on their demonstrated innovation, ability to handle complex matters, and the significant impact of their work.

At the upcoming SCL (Singapore) Conference 2024 on 2 October 2024, our Head of Energy, Projects and Construction Peng Cheng Tay will be sharing his expertise as part of an esteemed panel. The panel discussion, titled “Constructing Tomorrow: Opportunities and Challenges in the Energy Transition,” will explore opportunities and challenges presented in relation to energy transition in Singapore and the role that the construction industry can play. For more information of the event, please click here: https://lnkd.in/gfPUg5yY

Last week, legal practitioners from around the globe gathered in Mexico City for the International Bar Association (IBA) Annual Conference 2024.    Our Head of International Arbitration Practice, Koh Swee Yen, S.C., participated in a panel discussion titled “Judicial intervention in arbitration: a comparative analysis of the regimes in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas”, alongside Justice Mark Livesey of the Court of Appeal of South Australia, Justice Fabienne Schaller of the Court of Appeal of Paris, Justice Ngozika Okaisabor of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, and Alejandro Linares, former President of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, moderated by Justice David Barniville of the High Court of Ireland. During the session, Swee Yen shared her insights on key issues relating to the courts’ intervention during and after the arbitral process with particular focus on Singapore. Swee Yen who successfully acted for Deutsche Telekom AG in the landmark decision of The Republic of India v Deutsche Telekom AG [2023] SCGA(I) 10 before a five-member coram of the Singapore Court of Appeal discussed the Court’s endorsement of the application of the doctrine of transnational issue estoppel in the context of international arbitration, preventing parties to a prior decision of a seat court from re-litigating before the enforcement court points that were previously raised and determined by the seat court as well as the majority’s endorsement of the primacy principle where an enforcement court will act upon a presumption that it should regard a prior decision of the seat court on matters pertaining to the validity of an arbitral award as determinative of those matters. Swee Yen further explained the significance of this decision on global arbitration jurisprudence, and explored the interaction of decisions amongst enforcement courts, and enforcement courts versus seat courts.   The IBA Annual Conference is the largest gathering of international lawyers in the world, and seeks to foster collaboration amongst lawyers globally by providing a platform for lawyers to share insights on topical legal issues across various jurisdictions.

Our Restructuring & Insolvency and Special Situations Advisory Partner Kai Yun Tan has been recognised as 2024’s International Women's Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) Rising Star. Kai Yun is currently serving her second term as the Communications Co-Chair of the IWIRC Singapore Network Board, and is passionate about using her role to connect and promote female R&I practitioners in IWIRC.   The IWIRC Rising Star Award is bestowed on an IWIRC member with 8 or fewer years of experience in her respective field, and who has made considerable contributions to her professional success and displayed a high-level of commitment to advancing IWIRC's mission-enhancing the professional status of women in the insolvency and restructuring profession-at the local, national and/or international levels.   Congratulations to Kai Yun on this achievement! Read more at this link here - https://lnkd.in/gpPQypZe