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

The significant cases and transactions handled by the team in 2022 are:

Fund raising by S P Setia Berhad of the (i) Proposed Renounceable Rights Issue of New Class C Islamic Redeemable Convertible Preference Shares in S P Setia to raise gross proceeds of up to RM1,180.00 million; and (ii) proposed amendments to the constitution of S P Setia. The fund raising is a work in progress, and subject to the requisite approvals. We target completion in December 2022.

As a result of the voluntary administration of Probuild, the main contractor of our Uno Melbourne project, the legal team worked on the documentation required to facilitate the acquisition of Probuild by Roberts & Co. The acquisition transaction by Roberts & Co was managed by the Deloitte’s restructuring team who were appointed as administrators. We worked with all parties, including the three external lawyers, to implement a work continuation agreement to allow work to continue at site, the novation of the main construction contract and subcontractor agreements, and novation of financing documents from Probuild to Roberts & Co on closure of the acquisition transaction. Cooperation between the parties and speed was essential to “rescue” the project, retain sub-contractors, vendors and suppliers from walking away as well as ensure continued financing by syndicate lenders.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?

The legal team does not oversee procurement or tender bid documentation. While a substantial part of the legal work is advisory in nature (mostly issued via email), our internal customers, nevertheless, value discussions and interactions. Our IT team accelerated the roll out of Microsoft 365 (M365) on a group-wide basis at the onset of the pandemic. This was essential in facilitating communications internally and externally, especially during the height of the lockdown periods when we could not meet physically.

In general, what would you like to see change about the external law firms you use?

A genuine interest in building long-term working relationships. In our interactions, there are external lawyers that are driven purely by their financial targets. There are others that take on far too much work to accord due attention and time to their client or their client’s assignments. If a transaction or dispute is complex and prevails over a fairly long period of time, we would like to see our external lawyers offer a discounted hourly rate or preferred fee structure without the need to ask. This is always appreciated even if it is offered midway or on closing the matter. In-house legal teams face their own internal pressures and their understanding of how they work is key to building that long term relationship.