About

An in-house legal counsel with vast experience in international transactions and private equity, Melissa Obegi has been at the head of innovative legal work throughout her career. Before being asked to lead Bain Capital’s Asian legal function, Obegi was a managing director with Oaktree Capital’s Asia private equity business unit. Since joining Bain Capital in 2012, Obegi explains how she ‘establish[ed] the role and relationships required to manage legal risk across investment professionals in major financial centres, such as Hong Kong and Shanghai,… and other Asia Pacific financial centers’. When discussing career highlights, Obegi mentions that she is proud of ‘work[ing] collaboratively with diverse nationalities, languages, business cultures [and] legal regimes in Asia to invest in local markets and run our business consistent with our global standards’. Obegi also had a hand in the development of ‘a novel risk management training and practical improvement program for our portfolio companies in key risk areas such as internal controls, anti-corruption and cyber security’ while at Bain, displaying her disposition to pre-empt potential risks before they develop. Like many legal professionals in the financial sector, Obegi has developed strategies for dealing with changing regulatory matters. ‘Constantly evolving regulatory and tax regimes require sustained engagement and [a] nimble response’, she explains, ‘especially for a transaction-oriented business. The key factor to success in these markets is being able to find commercial solutions to the issues that arise in complex transactions and jurisdictions’.