Date Published: 27 September 2022
Ken Chia and Lai Zheng Yong of CNPLaw LLP (“CNPLaw”) acted for the founder-shareholders of Votiva Singapore Pte. Ltd. (“Votiva”) in the divestment of their entire equity stake in Votiva to Yokogawa Engineering Asia Pte. Ltd. (“Yokogawa”), a subsidiary of Yokogawa Electric Corporation, a Japanese multinational corporation in the business of providing industrial automation and control solutions. Votiva is the parent company of a group of companies in Southeast Asia, which provide IT consultancy and outsourcing services, including implementation of enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) and customer relationship management software.
The acquisition propels Yokogawa’s expansion of its ERP services as it taps on Votiva’s existing offerings and networks to accelerate the implementation of ERP solutions for customers both within and beyond Southeast Asia.
Following the completion of the transaction in September 2022, Votiva will be renamed to Yokogawa Votiva Solutions.
The founder-shareholders extended their thanks to both Ken Chia and Lai Zheng Yong for their professional advice as well as the exceptional effort and support rendered throughout the course of the transaction.
CNPLaw’s Corporate Advisory Lawyers
Every business involves an amalgam of various stakeholders, such as investors, shareholders and directors. Ideally, each of these stakeholders should have a common vision of what is best for the company. However, this is rarely the case when individual interests are factored into the equation.
Stakeholder conflicts (regarding issues such as breaches of fiduciary duties, derivative actions, shareholder oppression, management deadlocks, management compensation, dividend payments and buy-outs) can be a thorny issue and can leave a company crippled if not addressed promptly.
Given the diversity of interests at play, we appreciate that a multi-faceted approach is usually the most cost-efficient method of resolving stakeholder conflicts. Therefore, we provide clients with ready access to an integrated team of lawyers (combining the experience of our corporate, dispute resolution and employment law practices where applicable) who will effectively engage the relevant stakeholders in discussions on how best to resolve their differences amicably.
More often than not, clients are able to avoid costly protracted court proceedings and resolve stakeholder conflicts with discretion and expediency.
Each M&A deal entails the confluence of multiple legal disciplines. That is why we take great care when assembling a team for each deal, ensuring that there is an optimal mix of specialisation in the clients’ identified areas of concern, such as tax, employment and intellectual property, and necessary industry-specific experience.
We provide support to our clients at every stage of the deal. We will be there at the beginning of the process, helping to facilitate the negotiations between the parties and advising on the structure of the transaction. Once the parties have reached a consensus, we meticulously prepare the necessary documentation. Recognising that M&A deals are often the first page of a new chapter for the parties involved, we also provide post-transaction support to ensure a smooth transition such as the preparation of shareholder agreements, employment agreements, and other relevant commercial documentation.