ADTLaw appoints from Allen & Gledhill's M&A team

ADTLaw appoints from Allen & Gledhill's M&A team

ADTLaw has appointed a senior M&A team from Allen & Gledhill, local powerhouse.

Tao Koon Chiam, the Partner, will head the team. He has joined the firm to lead M&A for Southeast Asia. Xiaozheng Ko and Yi Ming Choo, the Partners have moved over and joined him along with Counsel George Kho.

To become a principal international firm for M&A transactions in Asia, Ashurst termed the employs as a 'key milestone' in its approach.

Chiam brings along his extensive experience of two decades as a lawyer and entrepreneur to his new firm. M&A, joint ventures and corporate restructuring with a particular focus on deal structuring and execution for cross-border private equity transactions are his encompassed practices. He spent almost 15 years at Allen & Gledhill where he served as Co-Head of the firm's venture capital practice.

All over Southeast Asia and across industry sectors, Ko acts for private equity funds on transactions. It includes financial services, digital economy, projects and infrastructure. In 2011, just after fresh graduating from the National University of Singapore, he joined Allen & Gledhill.

In the meantime, Choo concentrates on M&A for sovereign wealth funds and large cap corporates in joint ventures and acquisitions of targets highlighting on real estate platforms. Joining the firm in 2013, she became a partner at Allen & Gledhill in 2020 from a clerk at the Supreme Court of Singapore.

Kho is a counsel for high growth start-ups and venture capital transactions all through the industry sectors. It includes food & beverage, education, healthcare, insurance and construction. At the inception of his professional career, he joined Allen & Gledhill eight years ago.

Jini Lee, regional head, Ashurst, Asia said that the new arrivals' collective technical expertise and client relationships would "greatly reinforce" one of the firm's calculated areas of growth for its Southeast Asia practice.

She further mentioned that with a track record of building and growing a practice, these new appointments bring a wealth of experience to the firm. They considerably increase the capabilities and allow to get the most out of the prospects in the market.

For the 2020/21 financial year, the team's arrival comes off the back of record results for Ashurst, when, maintained like its peers by a record deal market. The firm grew revenue 12percent to £798m and increase PEP by 13percent to 1,175k.

According to the firm, more than 85percent of its work is now carried out in its key industry sectors like banks and private capital, real estate, infrastructure, energy and resources and the digital economy.

In support of its growth in the region, the firm highlighted the UK, Australia and Continental Europe as regions recording strong performances, but it has been adding partners throughout Asia. Yan Yuan is one among them who specialises in complex cross-border M&A transactions and in June 2022, joined the firm in Shanghai from Clifford Chance.

The firm added Tom Wilson to its international projects group in Tokyo from the Asian Development Bank's public-private projects group in early August 2022. It has hired Alexander Dmitrenko, dispute resolution partner in the city earlier 2022 from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

The firm also hired Jessica Li from Allen & Overy at the end of 2021 in Hong Kong. Her practice emphases on debt capital markets in Greater China.

According to its website, the arrival of the team in Singapore brings ADTLaw's lawyer headcount to 14. Chiam, Ko and Choo have joined the firm as directors and will become partners following regulatory approval. Kho has joined as an associate director and will become counsel following regulatory approval.