Date Published: 24 January 2019.
Key contacts: Lisa Theng and Pradeep Kumar Singh.
Lawyers ranked: Pradeep Kumar Singh, Tan Min-Li, Bill Jamieson, See Tow Soo Ling, Subramanian Pillai, Ken Chia and Amit Dhume.
CNPLaw LLP (“CNP”) formerly known as Colin Ng & Partners LLP is pleased to announce that it is recognised in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2019 edition and has received “Tier 2”, “Tier 3” and “Tier 4” rankings for various practice areas amongst other leading law firms in Singapore.
CNP is ranked for the following practice areas:
- Banking and Finance
- Capital Markets
- Corporate and M&A
- Dispute Resolution
- Investment Funds
- Labour and Employment
CNP has also received positive reviews from The Legal 500 Asia Pacific for its work and legal services provided by various lawyers in the ranked practice areas.
Banking and Finance
CNP is noted for its “strong background in acquisition and equity financings”, and regularly advise on credit funds and fund-type entities in equity financing. Partner, Bill Jamieson is also noted for his background in the funds and regulatory environments.
Capital Markets – Debt and Equity
CNP is noted for handling significant market share of mid-market issuances on the Hong Kong and Singapore stock exchanges, including Hong Kong’s main and GEM board, and Singapore’s Catalist exchange. Clients include Shuang Yun Holdings and Omnibridge. Partner Tan Min-Li is also commended for providing “professional” and “value added advice”.
Corporate and M&A
CNP is recognised for its strong cross-border credentials. Notable work includes representing Singapore-listed Silverlake Axis (a banking software solutions provider) on its acquisition of a group of three Malaysian-incorporated private companies operating in the fintech space.
Partners, Amit Dhume, Bill Jamieson and Ken Chia are recognised in this area. Amit Dhume for his funds-related M&A work and Bill Jamieson for his senior-level credibility. They are commended for being “responsive and capable”, and “commercial”. Ken Chia is noted for his focus on healthcare sector corporate transactions.
Dispute Resolution
CNP is commended for its broad dispute resolution practice, with a fine record in shareholder, construction and insolvency disputes. The team with a number of competent Mandarin speakers, has made an impression in the cross-border cases, including those involving Chinese parties. Partner, Subramanian Pillai is noted for commercial litigation, insolvency cases and construction disputes, while See Tow Soo Ling is praised for her “fine record in commercial, matrimonial and IP-related disputes.”
Investment Funds
CNP is noted for its focus on work involving investments into India and its Chinese clients. Bill Jamieson and Amit Dhume have advised one of Southeast Asia’s leading early stage private equity-focused funds on its successful closing. The team has also advised on a number of Cayman Islands-domiciled funds, including the formation and structuring of a fund focused on alternative renewable energy projects.
Labour and Employment
CNP is praised for being “very strong in this area”. The team is jointly headed by Partners Bill Jamieson and Pradeep Kumar Singh. Pradeep advises employers and employees on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law, including aspects of immigration law. Senior associate Michelle Chan is also recognised in this practice area.
The lawyers recommended by the publication:
- Mr Pradeep Kumar Singh for Labour and Employment
- Ms Tan Min-Li for Capital Markets
- Mr Bill Jamieson for Banking and Finance, Corporate and M&A, Investment Funds, and Labour and Employment
- Ms See Tow Soo Ling for Dispute Resolution
- Mr Subramanian Pillai for Dispute Resolution
- Mr Ken Chia for Corporate and M&A
- Mr Amit Dhume for Corporate and M&A, and Investment Funds
About the Legal 500 Asia Pacific
The Legal 500 ranks law firms based on client feedback, submissions from law firms and interviews with leading private practice lawyers. In doing so, the Legal 500 provides a guide to the world’s leading law firms and lawyers.
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.
We have a particular passion and interest in blockchain technology applications, cryptocurrencies and ICOs. We currently advise issuers of tokens, ICO advisors, venture capital firms and entrepreneurs involved in this space on Singapore legal issues and regulatory compliance for a range of planned business activities, ranging from utilization of blockchain to enable business applications in diverse fields (including money remittance, solar energy, consumer rewards, structured social interaction; music and entertainment industry; holiday & leisure industry; employment marketplace, consumer rewards, crypto asset security applications); to setting up cryptocurrency exchanges and issue of tokens on proprietary platforms.
Being a corporate lawyer is more than just translating legalese and churning out documents based on clients’ instructions. Our corporate lawyers understand that their role extends far beyond what is commonly expected. We seek to explore the spectrum of options with our clients and tailor an approach to suit each client’s personality and commercial needs. This is why our corporate lawyers are always keen to learn more than just a client’s business and industry; we want to understand the character of the business through its story and the parties involved in building it.
At CNPLaw, we aim to forge relationships beyond one-time transactions. We are committed to helping our clients grow their businesses, and play a part in its success.
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.
With globalisation providing not only a myriad of opportunities but also increased challenges in dealing with the various stakeholders, disputes are bound to arise in the normal course of businesses and transactions.
At CNPLaw, our dispute resolution lawyers seek to provide support to our clients through the lifecycle of transactions. At the very beginning, we seek to mitigate risk and avoid disputes. However, should it transpire to the latter, our lawyers work closely with our clients to either resolve the matter through alternative dispute resolution matters like arbitration and mediation, or through litigating the matter, either in the civil or criminal courts. We have extensive legal experience at every level of the Singapore courts of justice, and our lawyers have appeared in a number of cases reported in the Singapore Law Reports.
Employment issues are of fundamental concern to both individuals and corporations alike. This is especially so given the growing emphasis on human capital development across the world. Such issues involve an intricate interplay between commercial objectives and normative considerations. Here at CNPLaw, our lawyers strive to help our clients find the balance required to nurture a positive working environment. We advise both employers and employees (whether local or foreign) on the areas below.
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.
Practice Areas:
Banking and Finance, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and ICOs, Capital Markets – Debt and Equity, Corporate and M&A, Dispute Resolution, Employment and Investment Funds
