About

Malaysian telecoms giant Maxis Berhad’s legal department is led by the highly regarded Su Puay Leng, who advanced to her current role of head of legal in 2015. She has been highly praised by a nominating source for her work on behalf of the team, advising that her track record of ‘structuring and executing corporate and funding exercises as well as complex commercial deals’ whilst ‘ensuring legal risks are balanced with commercial viability’ has been particularly impressive. The team as a whole has been extremely busy in recent years. Across 2015 and 2016, it played a key role in the company launch of two unrated Sukuk Murabahah programmes aimed at consolidating and integrating Maxis’ wholly-owned operating subsidiaries under the Maxis Broadband umbrella. Additionally, it has supported the company’s business IT transformation, and helped secure the signing of a partnership deal with Vodafone to deploy Internet of Things technologies to Malaysian businesses. Internally, the team has also made improvements to its own culture. A nominating source tells of how Puay Leng spearheaded ‘the “Legal as a Business Partner” campaign in 2016, where lawyers are encouraged and expected to understand commercial and technical interplays to better provide legal solutions for business efficacy without compromising the group’s interest’. This has translated into the team taking its coordination of legal and commercial responsibilities to the next level. Sulaiman Azmil is a senior legal specialist in the team and explains the team’s way of working: ‘We are a trusted and purposeful business partner, collaborative and agile in supporting the realisation of the Maxis Group’s strategies and objectives. The last two years in particular have brought this team ethos to the fore. The Maxis Group’s transformation to thrive in a digital world meant moving from products to solutions and from access to digital services. Guidance was required in navigating this new landscape which is bereft of bespoke laws and regulations, and legal required no prompting in providing that guidance’.