Dato' Leanne Koh Li Ann > Mah-Kamariyah & Philip Koh > Petaling Jaya, Malaysia > Lawyer Profile

Dato' Leanne Koh Li Ann

leanne.koh@mkp.com.my View profile

Work Department

1. Corporate Finance
2. Corporate and Commercial Advisory
3. Corporate and Securities Regulation
4. Cross Border Investments
5. Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions
6. Dispute Resolution
7. Governance Advisory and Training
8. Insolvency
9. Mergers and Acquisitions
10. Projects and Ventures
11. Taxation

Position

Partner

Career

Dato’ Leanne Koh holds LLB and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from Australian National University. She chambered with a Kuala Lumpur-based corporate and commercial law firm and was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1998. Following her chambering, Dato’ Leanne worked in the Litigation Department and thereafter the Corporate Department of the law firm at which she had chambered before joining KPMG Malaysia in June 2000.

As a member of KPMG Malaysia’s corporate tax practice team for over 20 years, Dato’ Leanne has provided corporate tax advice in relation to a variety of domestic and international transactions and exercises, including inbound and outbound investments, cross border and domestic regulatory issues, mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, international tax advice and tax due diligence, corporate tax diagnostic reviews and group tax planning and advising on structured finance products and structuring commercial contracts for tax efficiency. She held the position of Executive Director – Corporate Tax for the bulk of her time with KPMG Malaysia before retiring as an Executive Director of KPMG Malaysia in June 2020.

During the course of her career, Dato’ Leanne has amongst others served in an advisory capacity with the Securities Commission and Bank Negara Malaysia in respect of tax issues relating to ABS structures and Islamic financing. She has also addressed seminars and conferences in relation to tax issues relating to mergers and acquisitions and international tax planning.

Personal Involvements (Key Projects):

• Advised on the tax consequences and applied for tax exemptions for the demerger of one of Malaysia’s largest corporate groups and the simultaneous listing of two of the demerged groups.
• Assisted clients in discussions with the Inland Revenue Board on diverse areas, including withholding taxes, cross currency swaps, interest deductions and financing structures. The clients include companies which are involved in e-commerce, IT, automotive, property development, manufacturing, power industry and trading.
• Advised both local and multinational corporate groups on group wide reorganisations and mergers and acquisitions. These clients include companies involved in manufacturing, power industry, plantations, financial services, ports and logistics.
• Assisted in applying for tax incentives / exemptions for clients in the power industry, aviation, financial services, manufacturing, I.T. and ports.

Languages

English, Malay & Cantonese

Memberships

Malaysian Bar, 1998

Education

Bachelor of Laws (Hons), Australian National University

Bachelor of Commerce, Australian National University

Chartered Tax Practitioner, Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia