Profile: Allen & Gledhill LLP

Allen & Gledhill LLP - Who's Who Legal '70'

What is the Who's Who Legal '70'?

It has an extensive and diverse client base offering services across areas such as corporate and commercial, financial services, real estate, IP, and dispute resolution. The firm has 21 internationally recognised nominees on the following pages – a greater presence than any other firm in Singapore – distributed between 12 of the practice areas. The establishment of a joint law venture with Linklaters LLP (Linklaters Allen & Gledhill LLP) in 2000 adds yet another dimension to its reputation, combining first-rate regional expertise with one of the legal profession’s most respected global firms.

BANKING AND FINANCE
The firm is particularly strong in this field, and recently acted for ING Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and the other arrangers in the US$1.16 billion dual currency facilities to Asia Mobile Holdings; the largest unsecured syndicated loan transaction of 2007. The accompanying pie chart demonstrates the firm’s excellence in capital markets law. Sources noted Allen & Gledhill’s proficiency in debt and equity work, as well as in securitisation, retail structured notes and work relating to REITS, business trusts, shipping funds and companies.

The group is led in the voting by Tan Tze Gay who comes recommended as “first choice for high-end complex work” and is said to be “responsive, smart and experienced”. Andrew Lim was complimented for his “thorough, precise” work. Lim Teong Sit joined the firm from the Malaysian offices of Shearn Delamore & Co in May 2007 and adds further weight to an already impressive practice in this area. Lim is recognised as a “known and published authority”. Lawyers from the firm worked on the initial public offering of First Resources Limited. Managing partner Lucien Wong also features prominently in the chapter and appears on three other occasions in this publication. He was deemed to be “at the top of his game” for banking work, and the firm has an “extremely healthy market position” in domestic, regional and international banking, according to our sources. Eugene Ooi co-heads the banking practice group and joins Wong in this chapter; his proficiency in Islamic finance was noted.

CORPORATE
Lucien Wong features in both the mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance chapters. Christina Ong was consistently recommended for her governance practice, an area in which she is “very highly regarded” according to our sources. The firm is rated as “head and shoulders above the rest of the Singapore local market” for M&A. It acted for MMI Holdings in its acquisition by Precision Capital. In addition, the firm acted for Singapore Technologies Semiconductors (STSPL), on its cash offer for the ordinary shares and American depositary shares of STATS ChipPAC that STSPL did not already own.

Wong is seen as “outstanding”, while Lim Teong Sit features once again and completes the firm’s contingent in the chapter. Nand Singh Gandhi, in the corporate tax chapter is rated as a “big name” and is “well known” in the market, particularly for tax litigation. The tax group worked on the concurrent acquisition of a one-third interest each in the owner of high-end office development One Raffles Quay by Suntec REIT and K-REIT Asia with an aggregate value of over S$1.8 billion.

K Shanmugam SC, like Wong, makes it into many chapters, including Insolvency & Restructuring, for which Allen & Gledhill is said to be a “strong firm”. Ronnie Quek joins Shanmugam in the chapter, and the firm’s recent engagements include acting for Ernst & Young – the judicial managers for Citiraya Industries, which was embroiled in allegations of financial fraud and with claims against it totalling several hundred million dollars; as well as representing Reliance National Asia RE, an insurance company that went into runoff when its parent company went into liquidation. Shanmugam also heads the litigation and dispute resolution group and is described by one source as “one of the finest all-round legal talents in the country”. The firm represented Singapore’s largest charity, the National Kidney Foundation, in high-profile claims against its ex-CEO and directors for breach of fiduciary duties, mismanagement and other improprieties, as well as representing Deutsche Bank in a claim of over US$100 million involving its sale of pledged shares in a large Indonesian mining concern. Variously described as “well known” and a “leading litigator in Singapore”, Shanmugam also appears in our commercial litigation chapter and is the firm’s sole nominee in the business crime chapter.

His work on white-collar defence matters in particular is said to be “cutting edge”.

SHIPPING AND INSURANCE
The insurance and shipping industries are closely linked in Singapore and Vivian Ang’s nomination to both chapters illustrates this. Ang co-heads the maritime and aviation practice group at the firm and was described by one respondent to our surveys as “my number one” for insurance work. Sources in our shipping research rate her as “first-class” and “one of the top local practitioners”. Ang’s partner Gina Lee-Wan also features prominently in the chapter. Allen & Gledhill has acted for the owners of the container vessel Marclipper in relation to a collision between the vessels APL Almandine and APL Dubai, as well as advising shipowners on their rights under ship construction contracts for the construction of six new vessels with an option to build four more valued at a total of US$68 million. The firm also stood out for shipping finance work, such as acting for Nordea Bank Finland Plc, Singapore Branch in connection with a US$265 million credit facility to Songa Shipholding Pte Ltd to finance its acquisition of 13 existing vessels and other newbuilding vessels.
 
COMPETITION AND REAL ESTATE
Allen & Gledhill also enjoys a sterling reputation for corporate real estate work; both Penny Goh and Margaret Soh performed exceptionally well in our research. Sources noted that the firm possesses a team of “highly respected, thinking lawyers who can, from a combination of first principles, experience and legal learning, creatively work out structures or resolve problems for their clients”. In recent times it has acted for Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (Realty) Pte Ltd in its investment in a major commercial complex in Japan with a value of over S$1.5 billion, as well as for South Beach Consortium, a joint venture company established by City Developments, Dubai World and El-Ad Group, in its acquisition of the Beach Road site for a value of over S$1.68 billion. The final featured lawyer in this book is in the competition chapter. Daren Shiau heads the firm’s competition and antitrust practice and was recommended to researchers as “a real expert”. The firm has recently been involved in cases in the airline, education, luxury retail and telecoms industries; in the former it advised the parent company of a Singapore carrier in its US$917 million acquisition of a PRC carrier. With such elevated levels of expertise across a wide spectrum of areas, it is unsurprising that Allen & Gledhill emerges as the leading player in the Singapore market.