Chandler & Thong-ek law firm news

Tilleke & Gibbins, Thailand’s largest independent law firm, has appointed veteran legal academic Dr Jakkrit Kuanpoth as of counsel to the firm’s intellectual property protection group.

Regional firm DFDL Mekong has told ALB that it is expecting to convert its representative office license in Singapore to a fully-fledge foreign law practice (FLP) license this month, pending approval from the Ministry of Law. It plans to launch its Singapore office by early January 2011.

The US$1.2bn acquisitional financing of five gas power stations as well as a 54 kilometre gas pipeline for a group of associated companies in Mexico – all subsidiaries of Mitsui & Co and Tokyo Gas – is a sign of a resurgence in the Asia-Pacific project finance market and overseas acquisitions by Japanese utilities and trading companies.

Milbank has poached Mallesons Stephen Jacques partner Dieter Yih (who is also the vice-president of the Law Society of Hong Kong) to capitalise on the IPO listings boom in Hong Kong and benefit from strong deal activity in mainland China.

Less than a month after its formation, SNR Denton International law firm has seen its Muscat head of infrastructure and projects, Mary Allan, lured away by US firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle (Curtis).

Nagashima, Ohno & Tsunematsu (NO&T), Mori Hamada & Matsumoto (MHM), Nishimura & Asahi (N&A) and Anderson Mori & Tomotsune (AM&T) have all indicated expansions and secondments into Asia as Japanese businesses shift from domestic markets and go regional.

Sicangco, Herbert Smith, ACCRA Law and Bakers have acted on the sale of BG Group’s indirectly held 40% stake in the Santa Rita and San Lorenzo natural gas-fired power plants in the Philippines to Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) for a net consideration of US$400m.

Thai firms Chandler Thong Ek and LS Horizon, Vietnamese firm DFDL and international firms Milbank and Latham & Watkins have advised on a US$2.7bn project financing deal for the Lao People’s Democratic Republic that involved a syndicated, multi-tranched, multi-currency facility from nine Thai banks – in Thailand’s largest ever project financing syndication and Lao’s first thermal power project.

PT Indosat Tbk – one of Indonesia’s largest mobile phone companies – has retained Assegaf Hamzah & Partners and Sidley Austin as the issuer’s Indonesian and lead counsels respectively on the US$650m high yield bond offer.

A record number of in-house counsels will be in attendance at this year's Mettle ALB Australasian Law Awards, kicking off next Thursday, 22 May in Sydney

ALB is proud to announce the finalists for this year's SE Asia Deals of the Year Awards, which will be held at the Marina Mandarin in Singapore on 2 June

"It was a great night, one of the best attended awards ceremonies I have seen," said Clifford Chance partner Huw Jenkins. "Particularly impressive was the spread of awards and, as a result, a wide spectrum of attendees. Next year you'll need the Exhibition and Convention Centre."

A raft of power projects across the region has brought electricity to the most remote areas of Asia. However, as Justin Whealing reports, an increasing number of environmental groups are pointing the finger at the advisers and backers behind these deals

Thomson Playford has represented NCML Holdings on its $119m backdoor listing.

Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Clifford Chance, Chandler & Thong-Ek, The Mekong Law Group and Allen & Overy have closed the financing deal for the controversial US$1.25bn Nam Theun 2 hydropower project in Laos.

Clifford Chance has closed the financing deal for the controversial US$1.25bn Nam Theun 2 hydropower project in Laos.

Thailand's largest refinery operator and petroleum product supplier, Thai Oil Public Company Limited, has closed the country's largest ever IPO and the largest in Southeast Asia for three years.

The Asian financial crisis may have bled Thailand's coffers dry, but it created lush fields for lawyers to farm - and farm them they did. Now, as the Thai economy turns around and the restructuring work peters out, foreign firms without a solid local practice are being faced with a choice: reinvest in the region - or retreat. Lauren Scott reports from Bangkok.

The world's largest steel producer Arcelor has sold its interest in Thailand's only stainless steel producer Thainox Steel Limited.

An uncertain future
When law firms first began pouring into Thailand nearly a decade ago, they had no idea the financial crisis of 1997 would make it one of the most lucrative markets in the region.