2022 Awards

IFLR 1000 2022

Tier 3 – Thailand  & Vietnam

ASIALAW 2022

Highly Recommended – Thailand & Vietnam

CHAMBERS ASIA PACIFIC 2022

Band 2 – Vietnam

Band 5 – Thailand

LEGAL 500 2022

Tier 1 – Myanmar

Tier 2 – Vietnam

Tier 3 – Thailand

We are not only legal advisors to our clients but also strategic business partners. We find solutions and help clients assess risks in order to achieve their investment objectives in our markets. Extensive emerging market M&A, structuring and corporate advisory experience, complemented by an in-depth appreciation of private equity and capital markets, makes us unique in the region. Our team also has an in-depth understanding of regulated sectors, notably financial services, technology, telecommunications, industrials, education, renewable energy, consumer and retail. 

Drawing upon the knowledge of banking and finance, real estate, energy, infrastructure, employment, restructuring and tax, we provide comprehensive transactional support, from target identification and the formulation of an M&A strategy through to due diligence, advice on regulatory matters and deal structures, drafting and negotiation of deal documents and seamless execution until completion. With an award-winning integrated tax practice, we are also renowned for our ability to devise creative multi-jurisdictional structures to optimize tax benefits. 

We represent a diverse range of clients on domestic and cross-border transactions, including global and regional private equity funds, international financial institutions, development finance institutions, banks, venture capital funds, small and large corporations, family offices, government owned entities and high net-worth individuals in some of their most complex transactions.

Through our ‘Connector Unit’, we also assist clients with deal origination by introducing domestic clients to offshore investors and funds, which has proven critical during periods in which the ability to travel has been constrained.

DFDL’s Regional M&A team has been ranked by leading directories such as Chambers and Legal 500 across our jurisdictions.

Key Services

• Asset and business transfers
• Capital markets
• Corporate finance and securities advisory
• Corporate governance
• Corporate restructuring
• Cross-border acquisitions
• Distressed and opportunistic M&A
• Divestments
• Joint ventures
• Management buy outs
• Mergers
• Private equity
• Strategic alliances

Major Projects

• Softbank on Thailand and Vietnam based matters in relation to its USD 1.5 billion investment into Grab, a multinational ride-hailing company based in Singapore.
• KB Kookmin Bank on its USD 603 million acquisition of a 70% stake in PRASAC, Cambodia’s largest deposit-taking micro-finance institution.
• Japan Tobacco International in relation to its USD 1.5 billion acquisition of a tobacco business in Bangladesh.
• Bank of East Asia and CVC on their acquisition of a controlling stake in one of Cambodia’s leading deposit-taking micro-finance institutions.
• Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited on:
  • the sale of its 55% interest in ANZ Royal to Japan’s J Trust in Cambodia.
  • the acquisition of a majority stake in a Lao commercial bank, a USD 10 million investment.
  • the acquisition of and exit from SSI in Vietnam.
• CIA First International School in relation to the sale of a 60% stake in international schools in Cambodia to Navis Capital, an Asia-based private equity firm.
• Azelis on its acquisition of distribution subsidiaries in Vietnam and the Philippines of chemicals solutions through a structure involving the creation of a regional holding company in Singapore that will hold the offshore subsidiaries and the subsequent acquisition by Azelis of 51% of this Singapore entity.
• Chip Mong Group Co on its USD600 million acquisition of Grand Phnom Penh International City Co, the developer of the Grand Phnom Penh International City project.
• Gobi Partners, a Chinese venture capital firm, on its ‘Series A’ funding of Deliveree, a logistics platform startup covering metro areas in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
• Silk Road Fund, a state-owned investment fund of the Chinese government, on its acquisition of interests in entities operating in Myanmar.

Contacts

Jerome Buzenet Partner jerome.buzenet@dfdl.com	Chris Robinson Partner  chris.robinson@dfdl.com