Asian Legal Update Third Quarter 2023 (July - September)

She previously lived in Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore and is fluent in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Malay. She has extensive experience and local expertise to advise clients from both legal and practical perspective.

She was admitted to the Malaysian Bar in 2013 and is the managing partner of our strategic alliance firm in Malaysia, WM Leong & Co. She is also a partner at Nishimura & Asahi (Singapore) LLP.

Michelle’s practice covers advising on various M&A and joint venture transactions across a large range of industries including IT, manufacturing, finance, real estate, retail trade, and energy. She also regularly advises clients on other corporate and commercial matters such as licensing, doing business, labour, data privacy and protection, and regulatory compliance. Prior to joining N&A, Michelle was a lawyer with one of the top law firms in the Philippines. Through her experience, she gives clients invaluable insights into Philippine culture and enhances their understanding of the legal and commercial practices in the country, making clients better equipped to do business in the Philippines.

Bayfront Law is Nishimura & Asahi Singapore Office’s counterpart in the Nishimura & Asahi - Bayfront Law Alliance, which is based on Singapore law.

Bayfront Law is Nishimura & Asahi Singapore Office’s counterpart in the Nishimura & Asahi - Bayfront Law Alliance, which is based on Singapore law.

He advises on a wide range of merger-and-acquisition transactions, joint ventures, foreign direct investments, general corporate, international corporate finance, and restructurings. His expertise is advising, structuring and leading complex transactions both within and outside of Thailand. He regularly represents, among others, Japanese, Thai and international investors, international investment banks, international private equity investors, hedge funds and international corporations and financial institutions. His main areas of practice include public and private mergers and acquisitions (takeover rules), legal due diligence, joint ventures, fund raising, listings, block trades, stock exchange and securities exchange related laws, restructuring of shareholdings and general corporate advice. His additional areas of practice also cover banking and finance, renewable energy in Japan and Thailand, exchange control law, labor law, and debt restructurings. Before setting up the Bangkok office of Nishimura & Asahi in 2013, he worked with Linklaters for almost a decade. He is also a registered arbitrator of the Thai Arbitration Institute (TAI) with the areas of expertise in corporate M&A, joint venture, banking and finance, capital markets, debt restructurings and energy.

Apinya’s extensive practice covers a wide array of matters ranging from business set-up, domestic and cross-border transactions to day-to-day business operations, to name a few. Her clientele includes both local and international conglomerates, trading companies, aircraft operators, real estate developers, petroleum and energy companies, financial institutions, securities companies, venture capitalists, and fund managers. Well-read and a holder of law degrees from three different jurisdictions - Thailand, the United States and Japan, Apinya is able to leverage her international experience and cultural insights to effectively and efficiently resolve complex cross-border legal issues and provide tailored legal services and solutions to her clients. In addition to being a practicing lawyer, Apinya is regularly invited to teach business law at various prestigious universities in Thailand, and serves as a counsellor to the Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives of Thailand for consideration of amendments to the Civil and Commercial Code. Her other notable achievements include being registered as a Barrister-at-Law, Attorney-at-Law, and Notarial Services Attorney in Thailand.

Mr. Bang is a partner of our firm, with more than 15 years of experience as a lawyer. He joined the Ho Chi Minh City Office in 2010, as the first Vietnamese lawyer in the Ho Chi Minh City Office, and gained experience in a variety of diverse cases, including huge, complex projects. Mr. Bang specializes in inbound investments, corporate & commercial matters, M&A, banking, real estate property & construction, and labour. He also has significant experience in providing advice regarding unfair competition, securities, capital market transactions, project financing transactions, infrastructure projects, and energy projects. Before joining the firm, Mr. Bang gained professional experience in both a law firm and working with multinational corporations. He has been a regular contributor to a number of law-related magazines, and has actively participated in the legal training of law students, having been a law lecturer in Vietnam since 2009. Mr. Bang is a 2001 graduate of Hanoi University of Law (LL.B.), and received an LL.M. from the Transnational Law & Business University in Seoul, Korea in 2006. He is a member of the Ho Chi Minh Bar and the Vietnam Bar Federation, and is fluent in both English and Vietnamese.

Huong started her career at leading local and regional law firms with diversified national and international practices. In 2009, Huong began pursuing a master’s degree from the University of Melbourne, and after doing so, continued her legal career at a number of law firms. Her areas of expertise include M&A transactions, labor law, corporate law, real estate transactions, restructuring and insolvency, and compliance. Huong often advises clients on cross-border M&A deals in relation to real estate, banking and finance, services, and manufacturing. She also regularly supports clients in regard to the formation and registration of internal labor regulations, dealing with labor disputes, labor contract performance, and retrenchment. In addition, Huong assists clients with the incorporation, operation, restructuring, and termination of their businesses in Vietnam, including with respect to day-to-day commercial business, corporate governance, and compliance. In these areas, clients value her extensive experience and detailed knowledge of local laws and culture, as well as her timely, responsive, and effective support.

Taeko heads the firm’s India practice, and advises Japanese corporations investing and doing business in India, with a special focus on dispute resolution (litigation and arbitration), and regulatory work (criminal and competition related matters). She also handles jurisdictions such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the UAE, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, and other countries in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Varsha Bhattacharya is an India and New York qualified lawyer with over ten years’ experience with India and South Asia-focused deals. She has advised on cross-border and domestic M&A, structuring exercises - including fund formation, private equity entries and exits, tax implications of cross-border transactional arrangements, and on estate planning. She has also advised and represented clients in tax disputes before various forums in India, ranging from representations before tax officers to the Supreme Court of India.

She completed her B.A., LL.B. (Hons) from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, and her LL.M. from Harvard Law School.

He represents various listing companies including a large cell phone motherboard manufacturer, a beverage company and large panel company in Taiwan. He is the legal advisor for the Taipei branch of a major Japanese bank. He has participated in research projects for government entities and in the drafting of legislative bills, including: the Research project launched by the Banking Bureau of Financial Supervisory Committee, “Study on the Types of Merger and Acquisition of Financial Institutions” (October 2007) and the Research project launched by Council for Economic Planning and Development of the Executive Yuan, “Research on Codification of Corporate Reorganization and Insolvency” (March 2005).

He has more than ten years of experience handling a wide variety of asset finance transactions, including vessel/aircraft leasing, fund/asset management matters, including those involving private equity funds, investment trusts, ETFs, and other domestic and international finance matters. Based on the practical experience he gained during a year-long secondment in Hong Kong, he serves as a member of our firm’s Hong Kong practice team, and provides legal advice to Japanese companies doing business in Hong Kong.

As an attorney belonging to a Japanese law firm, Masao is the only long-term resident attorney in the Middle East. From Dubai, a hub in the MENA region, he covers a broad area including the Gulf countries, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, etc.
 
 Masao frequently deals with legal issues inherent to the Middle East, such as commercial agency laws, foreign investment restrictions, and economic sanctions, and has been involved in numerous Middle-East-related seminars and articles.
 
 In the Middle East, where divergences between laws and practices are a frequent issue, he is able to provide practical advice that goes beyond a mere understanding of the contents of applicable laws, drawing on his diverse range of experience and personal connections in the region.
 
 Masao has close relationships with major law firms in each country and coordinates with such firms in an appropriate and timely manner, including controlling attorneys’ fees.
 
 He has also been involved in infrastructure projects worldwide, including at a Japanese investment and trading company and a UK law firm to which he was seconded.

By leveraging his experience abroad and his secondment to a trading company in Japan, Hiroki Kaga has experience in complex cross-border transactions. His strength is the knowledge and experience of cutting-edge practices in the M&A, start-up and private equity area.