Kooi Thong Lai is a Partner and Country Managing Director of DFDL Lao PDR. He brings 17 years of post qualification experience across Malaysia, Cambodia, and Lao PDR, spanning top tier private practice and alternative legal services. His career includes advising extensively within DFDL’s banking and finance practice in Cambodia prior to assuming leadership of the Lao PDR practice.
Kooi Thong advises governments, financial institutions, issuers, borrowers, trustees, and investors on complex financing, capital markets, and regulatory matters across Southeast Asia. His experience spans bilateral and syndicated lending, bond and Sukuk issuances, trade finance, derivatives, and structured transactions, with particular depth in Islamic finance and Shariah compliant structures. He also regularly advises on financial regulation, licensing, corporate governance, benchmark reforms, and aviation finance, including aircraft leasing and repossession.
Additionally, Kooi Thong has broad corporate and transactional experience, supporting clients on strategic, transactional, and operational matters across multiple sectors, including structuring, due diligence, and transaction management.
He holds an LLB (Honours) from the University of Reading and a Postgraduate Certificate in Finance & Law from SOAS University of London, and is admitted to the English Bar and the Malaysian Bar, as well as authorised to practise as a foreign lawyer in Lao PDR. He is recognised as a Notable Practitioner by IFLR1000 (Asia Pacific).
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