WongPartnership LLP

Restructuring & Insolvency; Special Situations Advisory

Tan Kai Yun is a Partner in the Restructuring & Insolvency, and Special Situations Advisory Practices.

Her main areas of practice are restructuring and insolvency, commercial litigation and international arbitration, and shipping and maritime law. On the restructuring and insolvency front, Kai Yun acts for corporate debtors, creditors, turnaround professionals, and investors.

Apart from her primary focus in restructuring and insolvency, and commercial litigation and arbitration, Kai Yun also has a specialist practice in shipping and maritime law. She has acted for bank creditors, ship owners, charterers, shipyards, offshore oil and gas companies in a variety of matters, including the enforcement against vessels, the sale and purchase of vessels, sale-and-leaseback agreements, charter agreements and shipbuilding contracts, vessel arrests, and documentary credit disputes.

Kai Yun has been described by clients as "very well versed in insolvency practice", providing "advice that is balanced with practical considerations". She has also been recognised for "providing valuable legal advice and recommendations" and "providing value-add on new legal judgments and how it impacts our line of work".

She has been appointed as sole arbitrator in an ICC-administered arbitration concerning a dispute arising out of a commodity sale contract between parties from two different jurisdictions. She has also been appointed to the IWIRC International Board for the upcoming year and currently serves on the IWIRC Singapore Board as Communications Co-Chair.

She graduated from Singapore Management University (LL.B., Hons.) and is admitted to the Singapore Bar.

Relevant Experience: 

Matters of significance in which Kai Yun has been involved in include advising / acting for the following:

Pacific International Lines (Private) Limited, one of the largest carriers in the region, in a successful restructuring of its debts in excess of US$3 billion in Singapore, via a pre-packaged scheme of arrangement. The judicial managers of Xihe Holdings Pte. Ltd., and over 40 of its subsidiaries to run a competitive structured sale process and vessel trading programme for a fleet consisting of over 80 vessels of varying types and sizes, following the collapse of its associates Hin Leong Trading and Ocean Tankers due to fraud. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited in the liquidation of Hin Leong Trading Pte. Ltd. involving liabilities in excess of US$3.5 billion, advising them on their cargo claims and also representing the client in defending claims brought under documentary letters of credit brought by suppliers. As Singapore counsel to UK-incorporated subsea services provider EMAS Chiyoda Subsea Limited in its restructuring of liabilities of US$900 million, which was implemented by way of a process commenced under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which necessitated a recognition of substantive foreign insolvency orders under the common law in Singapore, overturning the long-established Gibbs A Korean gaming company in four complex multi-party and multi-contract arbitrations against its Chinese licensees / Korean co-licensor under the ICC and SIAC successfully, resulting in favourable awards totalling US$141 million. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, the largest creditor in the liquidation of the Coastal Oil group, and acting in proceedings to recover a sum of US$131 million incurred by the group's founder singly, from his co-mortgagor (reported in OCBC v Lim Sor Choo [2020] SGHC 116).

Publications: 

Letters of Credit: Court of Appeal Affirms Fraud Exception for Recklessly Made False Representations Insolvency Officeholders Series, Part 1: Duties and Decisions A Set of Set-Offs or Just the One: Insolvency Set-Off in Liquidation Unpacking Directors’ Duties to Creditors: A Close Look at the OP3 International Decision Singapore Restructuring Insolvency Yearbook 2023 Letters of Credit: Court of Appeal Clarifies Scope of Fraud Exception, Letters of Indemnity and Warranties as to "Marketable Title" of Goods Letters of Credit: Banks Successfully Prove Fraud Exception Where Beneficiary Recklessly Made False Representations Non-Performing Corporate Loan Toolkit for Banks Singapore High Court Finds Co-Mortgagors in "All-Moneys" Mortgage Jointly and Severally Liable for Debts Incurred by Each of Them Singly

English