Baker & McKenzie and Lovells have advised the principle parties in the sale and purchase agreement entered into between Macquarie Bank and ING on 8 March.

Macquarie has acquired ING's Asian equities business, including ING's cash equity sales, equity trading, facilitation trading, execution, research and equity capital markets businesses across more than 10 Asian countries. These include Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as ING's Asian sales and trading desks in London, New York and other European and North American locations.

Hong Kong managing partner David Fleming, together with M&A partner Milton Cheng, led a Baker & McKenzie team that included lawyers from more than 10 of the firm's other offices across Asia, Europe and the US advising Macquarie.

ING turned to Lovells for legal advice and Goldman Sachs for financial matters.

Cheng said: "Given the number of jurisdictions involved, the complexity of the legal and regulatory issues, and the speed with which the transaction was negotiated and signed and due diligence completed, the deal required efficient coordination and commitment of our resources across the region."