Mr Kyle Lee > WongPartnership LLP > Singapore, Singapore > Lawyer Profile

Mr Kyle Lee

+65 6517 8738 kyle.lee@wongpartnership.com View profile

Work Department

Corporate Group, Start-up/ Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, FinTech Practice

Position

Co-Head – WPGrow: Start-Up / Venture Capital Practice

Partner – Mergers & Acquisitions, and FinTech Practices

Career

Kyle’s main areas of practice encompass venture capital and start-up matters, local and international mergers and acquisitions, fintech, and general corporate and commercial transactions.

Work Highlights 

Significant transactions that Kyle has been involved in include advising / acting for the following:

• • Both investors and start-ups in venture capital investments across the spectrum of funding rounds including recent matters such as (a) acting for WaveMaker Partners as lead investor in the S$6 million Series A funding round of MFast, a financial services distribution network in Vietnam; (b) acting for Northstar Group in their US$30 million Pre-Series C investment into Una Brands, comprising of both equity and debt; and (c) acting for Biofourmis, a virtual care and digital medicine company in their US$300 million Series D investment round led by General Atlantic. The funding round increases Biofourmis’ valuation to US$1.3 billion, surpassing unicorn status.
  • Award-winning public M&A transactions such as the S$13.8 billion contested cash offer for Fraser and Neave, Limited by TCC Assets Limited and Thai Beverage Public Company Limited, in what was then the largest M&A transaction in Singapore’s corporate history.
  • Private M&A transactions such as the acquisition by CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and CapitaLand Open End Real Estate Fund of a Grade-A office building at 79 Robinson Road for S$1.3 billion.
  • Cross-border M&A transactions such as the acquisition by Macquarie’s Green Investment Group portfolio company, Blueleaf Energy of a majority stake in an Indian clean energy solutions provider, Vibrant Energy Holdings Pte. Ltd., from ATN International, Inc. The acquisition marks Blueleaf Energy’s entry into the Indian market, which is now the 3rd largest solar market in the world.
  • FinTech providers such as banks, big data companies, ICO issuers, private share exchanges and FinTech start-ups on matters such as United Overseas Bank Limited’s strategic alliance with Grab Holdings Inc. to deliver financial services to Grab Holdings Inc’s ASEAN-wide user base.
  • Private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds such as KKR & Co. as shareholder of PropertyGuru in the US$1.8 billion merger with Bridgetown 2 Holdings, a SPAC backed by Richard Li and Peter Thiel.

Awards & Accolades 

Kyle is recognised by Chambers Asia-Pacific – Asia-Pacific’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2023 as a Band 1 lawyer for his expertise in the area of Startups & Emerging Companies, with clients noting that he is “very responsive and understands my commercial objectives very quickly” and that “as a client you feel that you are in good hands with Kyle looking around the corners for you.” In The Legal 500: Asia Pacific – The Client’s Guide to the Asia Pacific Legal Profession 2023, Kyle is recommended as a Leading Individual for Start-up and Venture Capital as well as Next Generation Partner for Corporate and M&A, being seen as having “extensive experience in a variety of M&A transaction types” and being “always accessible, responsive and across details of the matter (from complex to minutia)”. He is acknowledged as Highly Regarded in the area of M&A / Technology and Telecommunications by IFLR1000 – The Guide to the World’s Leading Financial Law Firms, 2023 and recommended as a distinguished practitioner for Corporate and M&A by Asialaw Leading Lawyers 2023 edition, as well as being featured as a Rising Star in ALB’s Rising Stars Singapore 2022.

Publications 

• WLG Venture Capital Guide – Singapore Chapter  
• Practical Law Private Equity and Venture Capital Global Guide – venture capital investment in Singapore 
• VIMA Term Sheet – A road map for a start-up’s relationship with investors 
• Getting the Deal Through – Private Equity, Transactions Singapore Chapter – 2016 -2018 editions
• ICOs and Blockchain – different this time?

Memberships

Member, Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements, an initiative spearheaded by the Singapore Academy of Law and the Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association

Education

Admitted, Singapore; National University of Singapore (LL.B., Hons.)