Date Published: 29 December 2020
Key contacts: Lisa Theng and Pradeep Kumar Singh.
Lawyers highlighted in the announcement: Pradeep Kumar Singh, Tan Min-Li, Bill Jamieson, Ken Chia, Stephen Soh and Hazel Ho.
CNPLaw LLP (CNP) is pleased to announce that for 2021, the firm has been recognised in the IFLR1000’s Thirtieth Edition, and has received “Tier 3”, “Tier 4”, “Other Notable” and “Active” rankings for various practice areas amongst other leading financial and corporate law firms in Singapore. Furthermore, our lawyers are recognised by the publication as “Highly Regarded” and “Notable Practitioner”.
CNP’s Managing Partner, Ms Lisa Theng has this to comment about the firm’s rankings: “We are glad to close the year with another accomplishment, adding to the list of accolades that we have received from leading legal publications. The six lawyers are well-known for their technical expertise in their various fields of practice. We are very proud of them. They together with our team of talented lawyers exemplify CNP’s drive towards excellence as we serve our clients.”
The practices ranked on IFLR1000 Thirtieth Edition:
- Banking and Finance: Tier 4
- Capital Markets – Debt and Equity: Tier 3
- Investment Funds: Active
- M&A: Tier 4
- Project Development: Tier 4
- Restructuring and Insolvency: Other Notable
The lawyers recognised by the publication:
- Mr Pradeep Kumar Singh: Highly Regarded for Capital Markets
- Ms Tan Min-Li: Highly Regarded for Capital Markets
- Mr Bill Jamieson: Highly Regarded for Investment Funds
- Mr Ken Chia: Notable Practitioner for Corporate and M&A
- Mr Stephen Soh: Notable Practitioner for Capital Markets Equity, M&A and Technology and Telecommunications
- Ms Hazel Ho: Notable Practitioner for Corporate and M&A
ABOUT IFLR1000
The IFLR1000 ranks law firms based on three key criteria – transactional evidence, peer feedback, and client feedback. In doing so, the IFLR1000 provides a guide to the world’s leading financial and corporate law firms and lawyers.
Admin Partner
Pradeep also advises companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (“SGX”) on listing issues and transactions including compliance with the SGX Listing Manual, fundraising, bond issues, acquisitions and disposals, interested party transactions, employee share option and share schemes, corporate transactions requiring shareholders’ approval and corporate governance issues.
Partner
Min-Li’s principal areas of expertise are in corporate and financial services with particular emphasis on corporate finance, securities and capital markets and mergers and acquisitions throughout Asia. She derives satisfaction from structuring practical legal solutions that work for clients, be it helping a client to extract value from his business through a sale or a listing or working on strategies to scale and expand, bringing the business to the next level. Her clients include private and listed companies, funds and financial institutions.
Partner
Ken heads the Corporate advisory team in the firm and has an international focus in his corporate and M&A work having graduated from the University of Exeter in the UK and worked in business development positions with various subsidiaries of the Hang Lung Group (SEHK: 10) in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China and with Informa plc (LSE: INF) in Singapore.
Partner
Stephen heads the firm’s technology, media and entertainment team. He has more than two decades of experience, acquired both in-house and in private practice. His background in commercial litigation, corporate finance and technology law enables him to quickly identify key issues and areas of concern across a spectrum of complex corporate and technology-related transactions and to formulate pragmatic, end-to-end, solutions for his clients.
Senior Associate
Hazel is a corporate lawyer in our Corporate Advisory team. She is admitted as a Barrister-at-Law in England & Wales and as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore. She has over 10 years of experience working in-house and in private practice. Her main areas of practice include cross-border M&A, joint ventures, private equity and general corporate advisory. She has advised various companies ranging from tech start-ups to blue-chip MNCs and was previously lead in-house counsel for the Brunei Ministry of Defence on international public procurements.
The lawyers from the Banking & Finance Practice Group (BFPG) have always taken pride in providing a comprehensive range of banking and finance services to our clients, including domestic and foreign international banks, other financial institutions as well as non-bank lenders and borrowers, and foreign legal firms acting for parties outside Singapore.
Our banking & finance practice covers the whole spectrum of domestic and international banking & financing work, including restructurings, financings and financial institutions advisory work. We can draw upon a broad base of partners, senior, mid-level and junior associates, all with strong and varied banking & finance product line and country experience.
Our reach is further widened and enhanced by our ability to draw upon the resources of our network of correspondent firms in the region and globally.
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.
Having handled transactions for numerous local and foreign companies across Asia, extending across a wide range of businesses and industries, we have accumulated significant experience advising on an extensive range of corporate finance transactions.
This includes Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), Right issues, Private placements, Convertible bonds issues, Warrants issues, Capitalisation issues, Privatisations, Takeovers and reverse takeovers, Share buybacks, Interested person transactions, Employee share option schemes and performance share schemes, Compliance with the requirements of the Singapore Exchange.
Companies periodically assess and deliberate ways to improve their financial results, and one way of achieving this may be through a successful corporate restructuring exercise, undertaken pursuant to the applicable laws.
A corporate restructuring exercise may involve the acquisition, disposal, consolidation or amalgamation of assets or shares. Other reasons that may compel a company to restructure may be to prepare the company for a sale, merger or management buyout. In almost all cases, legal and financial reasons will dictate the approach and outcome.
By leveraging on our corporate and insolvency law practices within the firm, we aim to help clients achieve their restructuring objectives by offering strategic advance planning, assessing the possible business outcomes and legal restrictions, and managing the interests of the stakeholders involved, namely the shareholders, creditors, customers, and employees.
We provide legal advisory services to fund managers, investors and investee companies in relation to both open-end funds and closed-end funds that deal with a variety of asset classes and employ different investment strategies including hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, mutual funds, commodity funds and exchange traded funds.
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.
Our dispute resolution lawyers have worked on matters of various sizes and across industries. Our vast experience enabled us to provide strategic advice on all aspects of insolvency. We have also worked under third party funding arrangements where applicable.
Practice Areas:
Banking and Finance, Capital Markets – Debt and Equity, Investment Funds, M&A, Project Development, Restructuring and Insolvency