Chester Toh joined us as a Partner after leaving Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 2010. He brings with him years of cross-border and regional experience having previously worked in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.

In his earlier days of practice in Singapore, Chester was actively involved in the consultation process for the enactment of Singapore’s Competition Act and advised a number of multinational companies on competition law compliance and enforcement. During his time in Hong Kong and Beijing, he was similarly active in counselling clients on the introduction of a proposed competition law in Hong Kong and the implementation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law.

With both specific and broad-based regulatory experience, Chester is well-positioned to undertake, organise and assign resources for regulatory work within the Corporate Commercial Practice, ensuring that our clients receive maximum benefit from the Firm’s combined experience, seamless informational flow and industry know-how.

With the recent economic reforms in Myanmar, Chester is also very much involved in the Firm’s foray into this new emerging market and co-heads our Myanmar Practice. He has been regularly advising a number of multinational companies and Singapore companies in their investments into Myanmar. Chester is ranked as a “leading lawyer” in Myanmar by IFLR. 

Chester is recognised by Chambers Asia-Pacific (2017-2022) as a Leading Lawyer for General Business Law in Myanmar who is “commercially savvy and also technically sophisticated“. He is also ranked as a Highly Regarded lawyer for Banking in Myanmar by IFLR1000 (2018-2022) and is recognised by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2022) as “an expert in regulatory risk assessment for cross-border direct investments”.

EXPERIENCE

Chester’s regulatory practice covers merger control, antitrust compliance and sector-specific regulation in the areas of telecommunications and media. His experience includes advising regulatory authorities on the promulgation of regulations such as the Singapore Telecom Competition Code and Media Market Conduct Code. Chester has also worked on a broad range of transactions including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, initial public offerings and joint ventures. In addition, he regularly assists multinational companies with the antitrust / foreign investment aspects of their cross-border M&A transactions.

Transactional

  • Advised Temasek on its US$400 million private equity investment in Evergrande Real Estate Group, together with Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch as co-investors.
  • Advised Morgan Stanley on its initial investment in Atlantis Resources Corporation and the subsequent sale of its tidal current energy origination and project development business to Atlantis Resources Corporation.
  • Acted for Alibaba.com on its successful joint venture with Softbank to extend its world-leading B2B e-commerce platform into the Japanese market.
  • Advised HSBC on its Chinese credit card joint venture with Bank of Communications.
  • Advised Tangshan Caofeidian Investment Corporation on its US$54.8 million investment in the fibre optics business of Nasdaq-listed Emcore Corporation in one of the largest outbound investments made by a Chinese state-owned enterprise from Hebei province.
  • Advised Atlantis Resources Corporation, one of the world’s leading developers of electricity-generating tidal current turbines, on its fund raising from Statkraft and its existing shareholders.
  • Advised Queens Moat Houses plc on its GBP600 million restructuring and sale to the Whitehall Funds by way of a scheme of arrangement.
  • Advised Shui On Land Limited, a Hong Kong property developer on its US$876 million IPO and global offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
  • Advised the underwriters to China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) on its US$2.3 billion IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the largest IPO in Asia for 2008.
  • Advised Honeywell on the Singapore law aspects of the sale of its Consumer Products Group business to Rank Group for approximately US$950 million.
  • Advised Coca-Cola on its acquisition of carbonated soft drinks bottling facilities in Myanmar and joint venture with Pinya Manufacturing Company.

Regulatory / Antitrust

  • Advised the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on its joint venture development of metal futures contract with London Metal Exchange for trading and clearing through SGX.
  • Advised Visa International on the notification of its multi-lateral interchange fee arrangements to the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) for exemption under the Singapore Competition Act.
  • Advised the Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) on the introduction of mobile number portability in Singapore and the liberalisation of the Singapore postal services industry.
  • Acted for Schering-Plough on its commissioning and construction of an on-site embedded tri-generation plant, the first of its kind in Singapore.
  • Acted for Cold Storage on its nation-wide alliance with Shell in Singapore for the operation of petrol marts.
  • Acted for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) on its strategic alliance with CNBC for the launch and marketing of its Pan-Asian MGM channel.
  • Advised a leading private equity house on the antitrust aspects of its proposed acquisition of PCCW’s telecommunications and media business.

Merger Control

  • Advised Petrochina on the antitrust aspects of its trading and refining joint ventures with INEOS in Grangemouth (Scotland) and Lavera (France).
  • Advised Continental AG on the Chinese merger control aspects of its EUR11.4 billion acquisition of Siemens VDO.
  • Advised Eaton on the Chinese merger control aspects of its public tender offer for the entire issued share capital of Phoenixtec Power Company for US$565 million.
  • Advised ICI on the Chinese merger control aspects of its acquisition by Akzo Nobel for GBP8 billion and the on-sale of ICI’s adhesives and electronic materials businesses by Akzo Nobel to Henkel.
  • Advised Solvay on the multi-jurisdictional merger filing obligations and Chinese merger notification in respect of its soda ash joint venture in China.
  • Advised Menarini on the merger control aspects of its successful bid for Invida Group across 13 Asian jurisdictions.

MEMBERSHIPS / DIRECTORSHIPS

  • Member, Law Society of Singapore
  • Member, Singapore Academy of Law
  • Member, Asia Competition Forum
  • Member, Law Society of England and Wales
  • Associate Member, Law Society of Hong Kong
  • Member, The American Chamber of Commerce
  • Teaching Fellow, Singapore Institute of Legal Education
  • Member, SAL Committee on Legal Education and Studies
  • Member, The Law Society of Singapore, Corporate Practice Committee

PUBLICATIONS

  • Joint author, “Business Beyond Borders”, The SME Magazine (March/April 2014) 
  • Joint author, Myanmar chapter, Getting the Deal Through: Telecoms and Media (2014) 
  • Joint author, “Practical Guidance for Companies Considering Business in Myanmar”, The Export Practitioner (September 2013)
  • Joint author, “Investing in Myanmar – Ready for the Leap of Faith?”, The Directors Bulletin, Issue 2 (2013)
  • Joint author, “Myanmar – Getting on the Road to Reformation”, The SME Magazine (January/February 2013)
  • Author, “Singapore Steps Up Competition Enforcement”, Competition Policy International (March 2012)
  • Joint author of The Business Times Regulatory Survey 2011 Final Report
  • Joint author of Hong Kong chapter of GCR Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review (2010)
  • Joint author, “Technology start ups: the legal challenges”, Renewable Energy Focus (September/October 2009)
  • Joint author, “China’s Anti-monopoly Law – six months on”, AsiaLaw (March 2009)

Location(s)

Practice Area(s)

Qualifications

  • LLB (First Class Hons), National University of Singapore
  • Advocate & Solicitor, Singapore
  • Solicitor, England and Wales (non-practising)
  • Solicitor, Hong Kong SAR (non-practising)

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