This elite group, comprised of experts in the field, personally nominates all invitees and develops the Agenda, which forms the basis of our discussions.
Forum Overview
Dates: November 18 - 20, 2024
Location: Sentosa Island, Singapore
The Forum is an annual meeting of elite-level private practice and in-house lawyers from across Asia Pacific region who are proficient in the negotiation, structuring, and execution of private capital investment transactions and mergers & acquisitions.
Using candid, peer-driven discussion, participants share the most pressing issues they are facing, as well as examine trends and developments across jurisdictions to learn how others address problems and work together to identify solutions.
2024 Steering Committee
Committee Co-Chairs
Rachael is the Associate General Counsel for APG Asset Management Asia. Originally trained at Clifford Chance in London, she has spent the last decade working in Asia (at Clifford Chance and now APG). She was previously based in APG’s Hong Kong office and re-located to Singapore last year to establish the new APG Singapore office. APG Asia is a major investor in the private real estate, infrastructure & natural resources and private equity sectors. Rachael has extensive experience advising on fund investments, direct M&A and co-investments across these asset classes in Asia-Pacific. Rachael also manages legal, tax and regulatory risk in APG Asia’s existing investments across these asset classes. She has advised on deals across a diverse range of geographies including Singapore, Australia, Japan, China and India. With her 9 years in Hong Kong, Rachael has deep knowledge of the APAC markets and her recent move to Singapore, means she is now more focused on investments in South-East Asia and South Asia.
Committee Members
Andrew Crook is a highly regarded corporate practitioner with extensive expertise in private equity and M&A. His experience includes advising private market firms and multinational businesses on a range of transactions in APAC and globally. With a focus on complex transactions Andrew has worked across a variety of sectors including healthcare, technology, industrials, education, energy and resources, infrastructure, financial and real estate. Andrew heads Clifford Chance's APAC Corporate and private equity practice.
Soo Yien Khor is a Director and Associate General Counsel at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPP). With over 18 years’ experience as a corporate lawyer, Soo Yien has extensive experience in Mergers & Acquisitions and is currently for responsible for legal matters in the Private Equity, Infrastructure and Real Estate asset classes. Prior to joining OTPP, Soo Yien was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Hong Kong where she worked on various public and private M&A transactions. She holds a LLB from the National University of Singapore.
John leads Linklaters’ Asia Energy and Infrastructure team. The Linklaters team is recognised by clients and directories as one of the leaders in the market, in particular for low-carbon / renewables project development, project financing and sector M&A. John advises project developers, export credit agencies (ECAs), lenders and financial sponsors / energy & infrastructure funds on the development and financing of, and acquisitions in, world-scale and or new-market projects across the full spectrum of renewable technologies including offshore / onshore wind, solar, batteries and hydrogen. His experience also includes wider energy sector as well as cross-border rail and large-scale infrastructure projects. John is recognised in Chambers (Band 1) and Legal 500 as a leader in his field, with clients and peers commenting that ‘he’s very commercial and brings senior-level advisory experience to a matter’ and that he ‘has an outstanding reputation for project finance’.
Jason Ng leads Baker McKenzie’s Asia Pacific Financial Services Practice, and sits on the Firm’s Global Funds Steering Committee. Jason has extensive experience advising clients on the structuring and formation of a broad spectrum of fund products, and currently practices mainly in the area of private investment funds. He advises private equity and real estate fund managers on the structuring, formation and marketing of such funds, as well as the regulatory, operational, compliance and corporate governance matters arising from the operation of such funds. He also advises investors on fund investments, co-investments and programmatic JVs.
Lay Khim has over ten years of experience as team lead at Temasek’s Legal & Regulatory global Funds practice. She also leads the Legal & Regulatory practice on global derivatives trading. Her experience in the funds sector includes transactions into various buyout, hedge and venture funds from the perspective of an institutional investor, AUM platform formation and spinouts, anchor stakes in bespoke structures, alongside the various accompanying regulations.
Grace is Managing Director and Head of Legal APAC. She leads the APAC Legal & Compliance team and is responsible for legal advice and support across investment strategies and enterprise affairs in the region. Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2018, Grace was a senior corporate lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton specializing in complex, cross-border M&A, PE and other strategic transactions, and has worked in London, Brussels and Hong Kong. Grace holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Yale University and is a graduate of BPP Law School. She is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales and Hong Kong.
CONNECT. ENGAGE. EXCEL. This is a different event, unlike any you've attended
Built on meaningful interactions and genuine connections, the Forum is the premiere gathering for private practice and in-house lawyers from across APAC who are proficient in the negotiation, structuring, and execution of private capital investment transactions and mergers & acquisitions.
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