The Legal 500

Allen & Overy maintains a strong presence in Southeast Asia, advising on a range of equity and debt transactions. The team saw an increased level of interest on the equity side, and advised on several IPOs, including the $5.8bn IPO of Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (currently the largest IPO in the region) and the $613m Tesco Lotus Property Fund IPO in Thailand. On the debt side, it has experience in Islamic finance, and advised HSBC, Citigroup and Standard Chartered Bank on the $1bn sukuk issuance by the Republic of Indonesia. The four-partner team is led by the experienced Kenneth Aboud. The ‘formidable’ Lock Yin Mei is also recommended.

Clifford Chance’s strong and consistent team handles a significant flow of Singapore-related and international work in the region. Highlights included assisting the banks on a K-REIT issuance worth S$983m (the largest in Singapore in 2011), and on Genting Singapore’s S$500m public securities issuance. With a strong Malaysia practice, it also assisted Equisar International (owned by the state government of Sarawak) on a $800m notes issuance. The team is led by Joan Janssen, who is experienced in the Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian markets.

Latham & Watkins LLP’s main capital markets focus is on India, Indonesia and Singapore. It also handles a small number of transactions in Malaysia, Thailand, China and Hong Kong. Practice head Michael Sturrock is an experienced and well-respected practitioner in the region, with a specialism in high yield debt work. He is supported by Min Yee Ng and Rajiv Gupta.

Linklaters Singapore Pte. Ltd’s recent work includes acting for Malaysian offshore company Bumi Armada Berhad on its $889m IPO, and advising on Olam International’s S$740m placement and preferential share offering. It was also involved in a special dual Islamic issuance with a combined value of $2bn for the government of Malaysia. Its impressive client roster also includes DBS Bank, HSBC, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, Citigroup and RBS. Kevin Wong leads the practice.

At Herbert Smith Freehills, Siddhartha Sivaramakrishnan recently relocated from the firm’s Hong Kong office, bolstering its ability to provide US, English and Singaporean law advice on both the debt and equity sides. A standout mandate was acting as counsel to HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank in relation to a $1.5bn EMTN debt programme (the country’s first) by an Indonesian bank.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy’s Naomi Ishikawa has experience in high-profile IPOs, and recently advised a large private sector company in India on its IPO. Managing partner of the Singapore office David Zemans is a well-respected corporate lawyer. Clients include Jasa Marga, PGN and Bank Rakyat Indonesia.

Shearman & Sterling LLP is ‘a great firm to work with for bond issuances’, and has ‘in-depth understanding of the high yield market’. It acted for UBS and Morgan Stanley as initial purchasers in the offering of $150m senior notes of Alam Sutera International Private, and advised a syndicate of major banks on Vedanta Resources’ bond offering of $1.65bn (the largest-ever by an Indian corporate). Kyungwon Lee is an ‘extremely good lawyer’, and ‘very helpful’. Andrew Schleider heads the practice.

Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow advised three banks, as international selling agents, in connection with a $300m global offering of Indomobil shares. The team also assisted HSBC and a number of regional banks on the $1.2bn inflation-linked bond issuance by the Ministry of Finance of Thailand. Ashok Lalwani leads the team. Jih-Shian Yeo specialises in US securities.

Andrew Carey relocated to Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee from the firm’s London office, a move which has significantly increased the team’s capital markets capabilities. The team also hired Simon Freitag, who has experience in structured finance across Asia. The practice has seen an increase in work relating to the defaulting of FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bonds) in India.

At Jones Day, Joseph Bauerschmidt is the main contact for securities offerings in both the public and private capital markets. Manoj Bhargava has a focus on India-related work, and recently assisted in the $330m IPO of DB Realty and the $600m placement of equity shares for Hindalco Industries.

Norton Rose (Asia) LLP’s recent work includes advising QBE International Holdings as listing agent for its bonds on the Singapore Stock Exchange. It also worked with PTT Aromatics and Refining Public Company on the restructuring of its $300m 5.5% notes due in 2012. Jake Robson is the main contact for equity work.

Sidley Austin LLP has ‘a deep understanding of the industry’. In 2012 it represented Indonesia’s largest bank, PT Bank Mandiri, in its $1.35bn rights offering and related secondary share offering by the Indonesian government. Prabhat Mehta advises on international and domestic capital markets.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP recently represented Credit Suisse and DBS Bank as placement agents in a Singapore preferential offering of new units in Ascott REIT, which raised over $400m. Rajeev Duggal is the contact for Singapore work.

Stephenson Harwood provides a ‘highly professional and proactive service’, and has ‘strong technical expertise’. It assisted Auhua Clean Energy on its $1m IPO and admission to trade on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Practice head Matthew Gorman has ‘very strong commercial skills’, and is ‘responsive to the needs of international clients’.

White & Case LLP advised Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) on its $1bn global bond issuance. It also assisted Asia Aviation (owner of Thai Air Asia) with its IPO and subsequent listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Kaya Proudian heads the two-partner practice.

Allens has expertise in aviation-related IPOs and infrastructure financings.

DLA Piper Singapore Pte. Ltd.’s capital markets practice is led by Stephen Peepels from Hong Kong. Biswajit Chatterjee has extensive experience working in India.

Gibson Dunn, led by Jai Pathak, provides ‘innovative’ and ‘out-of-the-box solutions’. Its recent work included acting for the Mongolian Stock Exchange.

O’Melveny & Myers LLP advises on US-registered, Rule 144A and Reg S offerings. David Makarechian covers both capital markets and M&A.

Watson, Farley & Williams LLP’s three-partner team is led by Nicholas Hanna and Damian Adams, and covers the full range of corporate and capital markets matters.