Michael S Carl > SSEK Law Firm > Jakarta, Indonesia > Lawyer Profile

Michael S Carl

+62 21 2953 2000 MichaelCarl@ssek.com View profile View profile View profile

Work Department

Arbitration and dispute resolution, banking and finance, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, mining and natural resources, projects and project financing, real estate, restructuring and insolvency, TMT, fintech and digital economy

Position

Foreign Legal Advisor

Career

Michael S. Carl joined SSEK in 2004 and has more than 30 years of experience practicing law in Southeast Asia, principally in Indonesia. His practice is oriented toward corporate law and foreign investment, energy and mining, finance, insolvency and restructurings, mergers and acquisitions and technology. Michael is particularly well known for his work with clients on the fast-changing Indonesian regulatory environment.

Michael is a graduate of Harvard University and holds law degrees from leading universities in the United States and Indonesia. He is fluent in Indonesian.

Prior to joining SSEK, Michael was associated with the international law firm Baker & McKenzie in its Singapore and Bangkok offices, where he handled capital markets and investment transactions and represented Indonesian and Thai companies in US capital markets offerings and debt restructurings. He was also previously associated with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP as part of the firm’s capital markets group.

Representative Matters

• Indonesian counsel to Grab in connection with its US$40 billion merger with special purpose acquisition company Altimeter Growth Corp. and Nasdaq listing.

• Indonesian counsel to Grab Inc. in connection with its acquisition of the Southeast Asia business and assets of Uber.

• Indonesian counsel to Princeton Digital Group in the acquisition of a controlling stake in a suite of Indonesian data centers and in subsequent capital raisings.

• Sole counsel to a major US technology company in the acquisition of land plots and roll out of its data center operations in Indonesia.

• Indonesian counsel to China Shenhua in the US$1 billion project financing of the Jawa-7 2×1,000 MW coal-fired IPP.

• Acted for a Chinese company in the acquisition of several hydroelectric power plants under a single holding company.

• Sole Indonesian counsel in the debt restructuring of PT Arpeni Pratama Ocean Line, involving a debt restructuring, Indonesian bankruptcy and PKPU proceedings, SIAC arbitration over a bank credit and disposition of security and U.S. Chapter 15 proceedings and capital raising.

• Advised PepsiCo, Inc. on the sale of its stake in and termination of its joint venture in Indonesia with PT Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur.

One client told The Legal 500: “Michael Carl is the key individual. He is responsive, legally sophisticated and commercially savvy. He is able to distil complex and often inconsistent regulations into sensible guidance for clients.”

Another told The Legal 500: “‘Michael Carl has a deep knowledge of advising and assisting foreign investors into Indonesia and has a very commercial outlook.”

Languages

English, Indonesian

Memberships

• California State Bar
• Interlex Group
• American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia

Education

• Harvard University, B.A., history, 1988
• University of Hawaii, M.A., economics, 1990
• University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law, J.D., 1994
• East-West Center, Hawaii, graduate fellow
• Atma Jaya University, S.H. (Indonesian law degree), 2012