Matt Roberts > Maples Group > Singapore, Singapore > Lawyer Profile

Maples Group is well known within the Hong Kong offshore sector, servicing multinational clients on investments in Asia and overseas territories for over thirty years. The firm’s team collaborates with their lawyers from across the offshore regions such as BVI, Dubai, Dublin and have a specific focus on the Cayman islands. The practitioners are ‘market leaders in the offshore funds space‘ and have a focus on virtual assets and cryptocurrency, with Hong Kong being well placed to be the hub for crypto assets. The ‘outstanding legal team‘  is led by Michael Gagie, Ann Ng, Matt Roberts and John Trehey. Gagie is the regional managing partner, and is the head of finance, Asia; and Global Head of the BVI legal practice. Ng heads the funds and investment management team, which work full-time on fund-establishment mandates. Roberts is described as ‘a very safe pair of hands’ and is a specialist in advising financial institutions, asset managers and promoters on M&A. Trehey heads the Asian dispute resolution, insolvency and restructuring practice and is the longest serving Asian-based BVI and Cayman disputes, insolvency and restructuring lawyer. Josie Ainley is a name to watch for her extensive experience in corporate and unit transactions, whereby she consistently acts for international high-profile clients.

Maples Group‘s ‘good depth of knowledge and solution-focused pragmatic advice‘ extends across the UK, Asia Pacific and the Middle East with practitioners in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai contributing the firm’s Caribbean expertise. The team acts for a broad range of global clients on corporate, banking, finance and fund work involving Cayman and BVI law.

For more information on specific regions, please click on the tabs below

• UK
• Asia Pacific
• Middle East

Maples Group‘s London office is led by managing partner Heidi de Vries, who handles Cayman and BVI work relating to the structuring, formation and maintenance of hedge funds and private equity funds. Clients also single out ‘expert partner‘ Harjit Kaur, who specialises in the establishment and maintenance of Cayman-based alternative investment funds; Jonathan Caulton, who leads the London finance practice and is admitted to practise in Cayman; Matthew Gilbert, who heads up the London-based BVI team and real estate finance group; and corporate team head Jack Marriott, who focuses on BVI-related work.

In Maples Group‘s Singapore office, regional managing partner Michael Gagie also acts as the firm’s global head of its BVI practice; he is also a key contact for banking and structured finance work, acting for both lenders and borrowers. Matt Roberts splits his time between the Singapore and Hong Kong offices and is Asia head of the corporate practice, specialising in M&A, private equity issues, governance work and capital markets mandates. Also in the Hong Kong office are fund partner Ann Ng and John Trehey, who leads the dispute resolution, insolvency and restructuring practice across Asia; both are admitted to practise in the BVI.

From the Maples Group office in Dubai, joint managing partners Manuela Belmontes and Philip Ireland are the key contacts for Caribbean-related work. Belmontes is active in the corporate and finance spaces, particularly focusing on international capital markets and financing mandates relating to Cayman. Ireland is a go-to name for Cayman investment funds work, specialising in collective investment schemes.

Maples Group is known for servicing multinational clients on investments in Asia as well as Asia-based clients on overseas investments. The firm has a focus on funds and investment and corporate based practice areas, with both areas seeing a spike in growth among its partners, with Craig Luton  and 2021 partner promotion Iain Anderson notable names in the firm’s funds team. The team is led by office managing partner and firm global head of BVI law Michael Gagie, who practices in both BVI and Cayman Islands law covering corporate, downstream private equity work, commercial, banking and structured finance. Matt Roberts is head of the corporate practice, specialising in financial institutions, publicly and privately listed companies, asset managers and promoters on M&A, private equity and joint ventures – his recent work has included SPAC deals.