What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

AAX successfully completed, on March 16, 2022, a court-authorised debt restructuring involving various lessors, trade creditors, financiers and thousands of passengers. A project that took about two years to complete, and to date, the largest debt restructuring in Malaysia involving complex legal issues, the termination and re-implementation of all existing agreements with AAX with the exception of leases that have been renegotiated and restated, and finally approval by a large majority of creditors at a specially held meeting of the scheme’s creditors. Various law firms and advisors were involved in the restructuring of Malaysia’s first airline which ultimately saved the airline from certain bankruptcy due to the pandemic and saved thousands of jobs.

Notably, this debt restructuring won the Airline Economics Aviation 100 Asia Pacific Restructuring Deal of the Year in 2022.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

It is fundamentally important, for both parties to discuss and execute any transaction synergistically, they must be aligned in their core values. For example, if a company holds integrity, accountability and teamwork as its core values, it is almost impossible to engage with external counsel that does not subscribe to these. Expectations will not be met; deliverables will fall short, and the working relationship will not be a happy one. When values are aligned, trust is built. External lawyers who are worth their weight in gold do not just deliver the deal at hand, rather, they protect the company, anticipate its needs and look after its best interests as if the lawyer himself was a part of the company. We are fortunate that we have such external counsel that have served us extremely well over the years.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

Coporate legal teams need to be updated with current trends, market practices and keeping the pulse of the industry has never been more critical. The pace at which the global landscape has and continues to change, whether driven by technology, politics, socio-economic factors or others and the impact of those changes on business in both good and bad ways, requires in-house counsel to be more agile, familiar with business units across the board, commercially astute as to be able to advise effectively to mitigate risk. Ideally, the subject specialists within the legal team should speak the language of the stakeholders they are advising while also behaving as generalists to take a holistic approach with respect to the business landscape they are advising. The ability to make quick and informed judgments and decisions is key, the drive to stay educated with the latest developments and finally, working with a core focus on the sustainability and success of the company. A great sense of humour is also incredibly useful!