Allen & Gledhill has acted as transaction counsel to The Ascott, a wholly-owned lodging business unit of CapitaLand Investment, on its acquisition of Oakwood Worldwide, the hotel and serviced residence business. The transaction involved the acquisition of brand IP rights and the global operating platform of Oakwood by Ascott. Partners Richard Young, Lauren Chung, Tham Kok Leong, Liew Wan Lin, Sunit Chhabra and Elsa Chen led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Allen & Gledhill has also acted as transaction counsel to venture capital firm Accel Management, which led a series seed investment in Tokuten, a Singapore-based fintech start-up which provides digital asset management products and solutions. Partner Nicholas Soh led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Allen & Overy has advised New York-based investment advisory firm Atalaya Capital Management, as one of the lenders, on a US$150 million debt financing for Dubai-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider Tabby. The financing was jointly provided with San Francisco-based Partners for Growth, and will be used to support Tabby’s continued growth. Launched in 2020, Tabby is the largest BNPL provider in the Middle East. Tabby’s platform allows customers to purchase goods from over 3,000 global brands and small businesses, and pay later in instalments. Dubai banking partner Samer Eido led the firm’s team in the transaction, which marks one of the largest credit facilities secured by a fintech company in the Gulf Cooperation Council, and is also Atalaya Capital Management’s first deal in the Middle East.
AZB & Partners is advising BlackRock Alternatives Management LLC on the approximately Rs40 billion (US$503.4m) acquisition by its affiliate, BlackRock Alternatives Management Ltd, of equity stake in Tata Power Renewable Energy. The Competition Commission of India Form I notification was filed on June 3, 2022 and was approved on July 26, 2022. Partners Bharat Budholia and Gaurav Bansal are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on April 14, 2022 and is yet to be completed.
AZB & Partners is also advising Yes Bank on the approximately Rs89 billion (US$1.12b) acquisition of up to 20 percent equity stake in Yes Bank by CA Basque Investments, a fund of Carlyle Group, and Verventa Holdings, an affiliate of Advent. Partners Zia Mody, Vaidhyanadhan Iyer and Gautam Ganjawala are leading the firm’s team in the transaction, which was signed on July 29, 2022 and is yet to be completed.
Bird & Bird has acted for ST Engineering Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering, on its Series B investment in Skyports, a UK company which designs, builds and operates passenger and cargo vertiports to enable safe and efficient flight operations, and also operates drone delivery, survey and surveillance operations. The Series B funding round included investments from existing institutional shareholders, including Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures, Groupe ADP, Solar Ventus, Irelandia and Levitate Capital. These investors were also joined by Japanese conglomerate Kanematsu, global industrial property group Goodman Group, Italian airport platform 2i Aeroporti, backed by Ardian’s Infrastructure Fund and F2i Italian Infrastructure Fund, and US-based Venture Capital firm GreenPoint. The recent fundraise brings the total raised capital to over US$26.1 million. Partners Marcus Chow and Peter Willis led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Clifford Chance has advised BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, DBS, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, as joint global coordinators, together with a syndicate of joint lead managers and joint book-runners, on a US$1.25 billion dual tranche Rule 144A/Reg S bond offering for Lenovo Group, and as dealer managers on a capped tender offer for US$750 million of existing 4.75 percent notes due 2023. The offering included a US$625 million green tranche due 2032. The offering was Lenovo’s inaugural offering of green bonds under its new Green Finance Framework. Partners Alan Yeung and Matt Fairclough led the firm’s team in the transaction.
JSA has advised Avendus Future Leaders Fund I and II on their secondary investment into Busybees Logistics Solutions (XpressBees). Avendus has acquired the stake in Xpressbees via purchase of securities from existing investor Elevation Capital. Avendus Future Leaders Fund I and II are focused on investing in ‘best of breed’ market leaders/ emerging leaders, with the objective of mid-long term value creation. The fund leverages the strengths of the Avendus ecosystem – its network, relationships and industry insights and invests minority stakes in late stage companies. Core sectors of focus for the fund are digital technologies, consumption and financial services. Xpressbees is India’s fastest growing B2B, B2C, Cross Border, 3PL logistic service provider, and has received investments from several marquee private equity investors. Partner Sidharrth Shankar, supported by partner Prakriti Jaiswal, led the firm’s team in the transaction, which was valued at approximately Rs1.95 billion (US$24.5m).
JSA has also represented Clearlake Capital Group and Motive Partners on the Indian leg of their acquisition of BETA+ assets from Refinitiv India, a London Stock Exchange Group company. BETA+ encompasses the assets of BETA (a securities processing, custody, clearing and asset servicing technology), Maxit (cost and tax basis reporting software), and Digital Investor (front-end client solutions). By acquiring the BETA+ assets from LSEG and creating a standalone platform, Clearlake and Motive intend to execute on a buy and build strategy, supported by Clearlake’s proprietary O.P.S.® framework, and Motive’s value creation plan. Joint managing partner Vivek Chandy, supported by partners Shafaq Sapre, Kumarmanglam Vijay (direct tax head), Shareen Gupta, Karthik BM, Vaibhav Choukse (competition practice head), Anjana Potti and Preetha S, led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Kudun and Partners has represented Yong Concrete, one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of precast and ready-mixed concrete products in central and western Thailand, on its IPO with a market capitalization of β1.7 billion (US$33m). At the opening of this first trading day, the company received an 80 percent increase in its IPO subscription price from β2.50 (US$0.07) per share to β4.50 (US$0.127) per share.
Maples and Calder has acted as Cayman Islands counsel to Ginko International and the special committee of the board of directors of Ginko on its take-private by a buyer consortium comprising of Baring Private Equity Asia, New Path International and Hydron International, and the financing of the take-private. Completed on April 29, 2022, the transaction is valued at US$976.43 million, and is considered one of the largest privatisation of a listed company in the Taiwan consumer market. Hong Kong corporate partners Richard Spooner and Juno Huang led the firm’s team in the transaction, while C&A Law Firm and Kirkland & Ellis also advised to Ginko and the special committee. Baker & McKenzie advised Hydron International and New Path International, while Lee and Li advised Baring Private Equity Asia.
Maples and Calder has also acted as Cayman Islands counsel to Poema Global Holdings, a Cayman Islands SPAC formed by Poema Global Partners and listed on Nasdaq, on its business combination with Taiwan-based Gogoro. Gogoro is an innovation company with a mission to accelerate the shift to sustainable urban life by eliminating the barriers to electric fuel adoption to bring smart and swappable electric power within reach of every urban rider in the world. The business combination was effected via Cayman Islands statutory mergers, pursuant to which Poema merged with and into Starship Merger Sub I, with Poema surviving the first merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gogoro, and immediately following the first merger, Poema as the surviving entity from the first merger merged with and into Starship Merger Sub II, with Starship Merger Sub II surviving the second merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gogoro. Upon consummation of the business combination, Gogoro commenced trading on the Nasdaq. The transaction valued Gogoro at approximately US$2.35 billion, with Gogoro receiving approximately US$550 million gross proceeds, including an oversubscribed PIPE (private investment in public equity) of over US$250 million and US$345 million held in trust by Poema. Investors in the PIPE include strategic partners like Hon Hai (Foxconn) Technology Group and GoTo, the Indonesian tech giant created through the merger of Gojek and Tokopedia, and new and existing investors like Generation Investment Management, Taiwan’s National Development Fund, Temasek and Dr. Samuel Yin of Ruentex Group, Gogoro’s founding investor. Citibank and UBS acted as placement agents in connection with the PIPE financing. Corporate partner Matt Roberts led the firm’s team in the transaction, while Kirkland & Ellis International also advised Poema. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised Gogoro.
Rajah & Tann LCT Lawyers and R&T Sok & Heng, member firms of Rajah & Tann Asia, have acted for the sellers on the acquisition by Swire Coca-Cola of Coca-Cola bottling businesses in Vietnam and Cambodia. Partners Vu Thi Que and Heng Chhay led the firm’s team transaction in each respective jurisdiction.
Rajah & Tann Singapore has acted for Ethoz Group and Tan Chong Investments on the S$305 million (US$221m) acquisition by Tan Chong of the remaining 50 percent stake in Ethoz. This transaction represented one of the largest publicly-announced acquisitions in the automotive and financing solutions industry in Singapore in recent years. Partners Evelyn Wee, Tan Mui Hui and James Chan led the firm’s team in the transaction.
Shearman & Sterling has represented Citigroup Global Markets and JP Morgan Securities on Duddell Street Acquisition’s business combination with FiscalNote Holdings, a leading AI-driven enterprise SaaS company that delivers legal and regulatory data and insights. The transaction was completed on July 29, 2022, and FiscalNote’s Class A common stock and warrants began trading in New York on August 1, 2022. Sponsored by Hong Kong-based hedge fund Maso Capital, Duddell Street is a SPAC formed to effect a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Hong Kong capital markets partner Kyungwon (Won) Lee led the firm’s team in the transaction.
WongPartnership has acted for a subsidiary of a global investment company on the joint venture with German agri-food multinational company, Cremer. The joint venture will invest S$6 million (US$4.35m) to produce plant-based alternative proteins. Partners Mark Choy and Daniel Chui led the firm’s team in the transaction, together with Partner Chan Jia Hui.
