Kala Anandarajah, BBM

Head, Competition & Antitrust and Trade

Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP

“Kala is one of the strongest competition lawyers in the region. She is highly commercially astute and a great people leader and talent developer. Kala is an experienced practitioner who is responsive to the client’s needs and practical issues.” – Chambers Asia-Pacific

Anandarajah takes pride in ensuring that every piece of work she undertakes is targeted and focused, addressing the specific need of the client in a practical business-oriented manner. That has kept her interest in the law ignited.

Anandarajah heads the Competition & Antitrust and Trade Practice. Always a forerunner in niche areas of the law, her key practice areas are Competition (merger control, cartels, investigations, etc), Trade (export controls, FTAs, sanctions etc), and Consumer Protection. She has strong secondary practices in Employment, Environmental (EHS) & Sustainability (ESG), Corporate Governance and Telco/Media Laws just because of her long career in the law, where she has formidable accolades. She has had many firsts in her career, handling difficult and complex matters, demystifying and simplifying issues to achieve the clients’ aim.

Lauded by clients as having “unrivalled knowledge and understanding of the law and uniquely… able to understand very complicated businesses and their likely reactions” by Chambers Asia-Pacific and a “business-focused and client-oriented attorney who balances her expertise with practical experience, with a “solid, can-do attitude… [who] is very good at working out a strategic solution to a legal problem… one of the few practitioners who is truly at the cutting edge”. She is also cited for being very dedicated, very quick and precise,” by Chambers Asia-Pacific, described as “super switched-on” by Who’s Who Legal, and one with “very wide vision” by Chambers Asia-Pacific. She is described as a Thought Leader for competition by GCR and Worldwide Leading Lawyers over several years. 2020 Who’s Who of Leading Lawyers notes that she “earns high praise from peers, who identify her as ‘extremely dynamic, inspiring and sharp’ and ‘a lawyer who knows everything and is extremely well prepared”.

One client comments: “She has impressed us with her legal knowledge, business acumen and also understanding of the Commission and the legal arena, which makes her a dream for anybody looking to engage competition lawyers”.

Clients give her exceptional praise, deeming her “superbly responsive, very hard-working, solution-oriented and reliable.”  AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers says she “is the complete package for all competition issues in ASEAN”. Some of her other citations include:

  • Competition/Antitrust Lawyer of the Year (Regional Legal Expertise) by asialaw Awards 2024
  • Singapore Female Lawyer of the Year by asialaw Awards 2024
  • Cross Border Lawyer of the Year – Competition by Legal Era Global Achievers Awards 2024
  • Singapore’s Top 100 Lawyers by A-List: Asia Business Law Journal (2023 and 2024)
  • Women Lawyer of the Year, SE Asia by ALB Women in Law Awards (2023)
  • Lexology Client Choice Winner – Trade and Customs 2024
  • Lexology Client Choice Winner – Trade Law 2023
  • Lexology Client Choice Winner – Competition Law 2022
  • Top 10 Most Innovative Practitioner in Asia Pacific by FT Most Innovative Lawyers 2022
  • Top 50 Female Employment Lawyers in the World by International Employment Lawyers 2022
  • Winner, Outstanding Achievement AwardEuromoney Women in Business Law 2021
  • Highly Commended Lawyer in Private Practice at the Legal 500 Southeast Asia Awards 2021
  • Most Highly Regarded in Southeast Asia by Who’s Who Legal: Southeast Asia Competition 2021 and 2022
  • Thought Leader for Competition in Worldwide Leading Lawyers 2020 to 2023
  • Nominated Regional Lawyer of the Year by Legal 500 2020
  • Commended External Counsel of the Year 2016 by the In-House Community
  • Top 100 Women in Antitrust in the World by the Global Competition Review
  • Chambers Asia-Pacific and Chambers Global leading lawyer for competition, trade (the only local firm) and employment
  • Who’s Who Leading Lawyer for Competition, Trade, Corporate Governance, Employment
  • Winner of Euromoney Legal Media Group Asia Women in Business Law Awards Twice
  • Awarded Best Lawyer in Competition & Antitrust in Singapore by Best Lawyers 2015, and identified by Best Lawyers since 2013 to date

Anandarajah sits on various boards, including the Health Sciences Authority and Institute for Human Resource Personnel; a member of the External Review Panel of Safety in SAF (MINDEF), and the Appeal Board – Council of Estate Agents (MND). She was for a long-time part of the Workplace Safety & Health Council, 10 years on the Board of the Building and Construction Authority, a board member of Singapore Institute of Legal Education (chairing the Committee which introduced CPD for lawyers in Singapore) and was on the Committee for Professional Training of Lawyers formed by the Chief Justice of Singapore, whose report has shaped legal practice from 2023.

She was conferred the following awards for public service rendered through the boards and councils she sat on by the President of Singapore:

  • 2022 – Public Service Star (Bintang Bakti Masyarakat)
  • 2014 – Public Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Masyarakat), both of which are conferred

EXPERIENCE

Competition & Antitrust

On Competition & Antitrust, Anandarajah has been involved in major cartel / abuse investigations, cross-border mergers / other notifications, leniency applications, and also handles dawn-raids, complaints, consultation, counselling, compliance, training and implementation of competition laws across the region. She has handled numerous multi-jurisdictional merger notifications across the world, being lead counsel in some. Some of the major matters that she has been involved in include:

Merger control notifications sample include:

  • EQT/Property Guru
  • Hanwha/Dyna-Mac
  • DeliveryHero (FoodPanda)/Grab
  • Tata/Air India/Vistara/Singapore Airlines
  • Talace (Tata)/Air India
  • MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co SA/Rimorchiatori Mediterranei SPA
  • Link Asset Management Ltd/Mercatus Cooperative Ltd
  • IMCD NV/Brylchem Pte Ltd/Chemipac Pte Ltd
  • Entegris/Fujifilm Holdings
  • City Energy/TTH
  • Mandarin/StorHub
  • Entegris/CMC
  • SK Hynix/Intel
  • AON/WTW
  • DBS Bank/JP Morgan/Temasek
  • HSBC Bank/Temasek
  • EDP Renovaveis/Sunseap
  • Singapore Ex/DBS/Standard Chartered
  • Cuscaden/Singapore Press Holdings
  • Eternis/Tennants Fine Chemicals Limited
  • CMG GCM/NewHoldCo
  • MHE / Konecranes
  • Quest / Innovative / TPG
  • DKSH / Auric
  • Essilor / Luxottica
  • Wilhelmsen / Drew Marine
  • Sinochem / Halcyon
  • Global Logistics / a Sovereign Wealth fund
  • Moog / Singapore Airlines Engineering
  • Holcim / Lafarge
  • CMA-CGM/NOL
  • Emperador / Beam Suntory
  • Parkway / Radlink
  • GDF Suez / International Power Plc
  • FMC / Asia Renal Care
  • Chartered Semiconductor / Hitachi Semiconductor

Major public investigations include:

  • Coca-Cola
  • Google
  • Warehousing
  • Sibor price rigging, involving several major banks
  • Chicken
  • Inductors
  • Capacitors
  • Auto-parts
  • Freight forwarders
  • Lifts
  • Bus agencies
  • Financial advisers
  • Hotels information exchange
  • F1 Bid-rigging
  • Food delivery
  • Ball bearings
  • Ticketing

Her work has seen wins at an international level with:

  • Win for “Behavioural Matter of the Year – Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa” category – Global Competition Review Awards (2020) for her work (working with colleagues) for Coca-Cola Refreshments Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., involving issues of RPM et al.
  • Win for “Behavioural Matter of the Year – Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa” category – Global Competition Review Awards (2013) for her work for Coca-Cola Singapore Beverages Pte. Ltd., a ground-breaking matter.

Trade

The only local firm with a Chambers Global ranking on Trade Law, Anandarajah advises on export controls, WTOs, FTAs, trade agreements (including advising on the TPP, AEC and other trade treaties), export controls and advising extensively on strategic and controlled goods, sanctions, handling export and import permit applications and clearances involving regulated and prohibited goods, anti-dumping & safeguards, customs, customs valuations & duties, advising and assisting with voluntary disclosure programmes, and dealing with product liability and recall issues amongst others, touching on a range of products from electronics to motor vehicles to food as well as telecommunication products.

A rare Asian lawyer listed in Chambers Global for Trade, it is noted that she is a “business-focused and client-oriented attorney who balances her expertise with practical experience”.

On export control, dual use goods and strategic goods, which takes up a considerable amount of time, Anandarajah’s work includes advisory, structuring, licence applications, and defense work where there are breaches with licensing requirements, EUSes, classification issues and more. The export control work goes beyond dual use and military goods, and cuts across all controlled goods, including health and medical products, cosmetics, food and beverages, electronic products and more.

On trade agreements specifically, her work has spanned providing feedback on FTAs being negotiated, setting up a business and structuring logistics flows to benefit from RTAs and FTAs, advising extensively on ROOs and COOs, whilst meandering the different ROO under different FTAs, and advising on how best to benefit from preferential treatment. On trade investigations, Anandarajah has also been involved in matters relating to non-compliance with FTAs, managing issues for clients, and dealing with customs authorities. She also advises regularly on anti-dumping and safe-guard matters.

Additionally, Anandarajah has also conducted extensive training on competition policy, WTO and FTA and other trade related issues across ASEAN countries for regulators to enhance trade understanding, including in relation to working with ITIS and others in Lao, Cambodia and Vietnam, amongst other countries, as they looked to achieve LDC and WTO status 20 years ago.

Employment

On Employment Law, she is cited as Top 50 Employment Lawyers in the World by International Employment Lawyers, and described as “responsive, helpful and commercial” by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific.

Anandarajah has handled matters in employment and labour and benefits for over 25 years and has seen the entire gamut of changes occurring and many a cutting-edge issue. Her work involves advising a number of multinational corporations on their employment concerns, including employment agreements, executive compensation benefits payable, including options of differing forms such as ESOPs and LTIPs, termination and termination benefits, non-compete, restraints, implementing and reviewing employment handbooks and manuals, employment transfer issues, whistleblowing policies and implementation and more. Workplace discrimination and harassment concerns is an active area as is regulatory violations touching on central provident fund (CPF) and workplace safety and health issues.

Regulatory – Environmental, Health & Safety

Anandarajah, only one of a very select few who has been repeatedly cited as a leading Environmental lawyer by international legal ranking journals, has been involved in a number of advisory and due diligence projects, including in relation to the sale of the three Electricity Generation Companies in Singapore. She has also been involved in a number of major investigations concerning environmental issues. She also advises extensively in a variety of matters involving EHS matters, from poisons to hazardous substances, from facility permits and licensing requirements to all forms of air, water, land and noise pollution issues, including advising Boards on such regulatory matters.

Her experience in this area extends to advising on specific health product licensing requirements, liaising with regulators on a variety of issues, and generally assisting with structuring transactions to ensure compliance. Increasingly carbon emissions and carbon trading issues, as well as carbon tax are an area that she touches on.

More recently, she has been advising on ESG issues, with carbon trading and carbon tax concerns taking prime position.

Corporate / Corporate Governance

On corporate governance, Anandarajah is a clear leader advising boards and corporates on multiple issues. Some of the major matters she advised on include China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Limited, setting up the Financial Industries Disputes Resolution Centre, the umbrella body that handles disputes from the banking, insurance and securities industries, the Investor Relations Officers Association (Singapore), and the dispute resolution scheme for no injury accident claims for the General Insurance Association of Singapore. Importantly, she sat on the Corporate Governance Council that amended the first Code and lead to the introduction of the second Code. She also drafted the CG Code of the Maldives.

Anandarajah remains active in advising boards, always taking a very practical approach to managing issues, which coupled with her legal and business background means effective solutions are found for the company. Anandarajah’s work also extends to advising non-profits and she is appointed counsels to one of the largest religious organisation (church) in Singapore.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific notes that “Kala Anandarajah… is a leading authority in corporate governance, compliance and competition issues…” and is “responsive, helpful and commercial”.

Anandarajah also conducts board training often, including the LCD Module on Director Duties, which is a requirement for all new directors.   She is cited as amongst the Best of the Best – Women in Business Law for a number of years now for her work in Corporate Governance and for Antitrust and Competition Law.

OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Anandarajah is a prolific writer and is widely published, with many of her books being first publications in Singapore and the region and now leading texts relied upon by many lawyers, other professionals and businessmen. She has written over half a dozen legal books on Corporate Governance, Competition and Antitrust, Trade, Bills of Sale, Bankruptcy, Auditors and more.

Anandarajah has conducted a number of lectures internationally, including the UK, the US, South Africa, Austria, Japan, China, India, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Maldives in her areas of expertise.

MEMBERSHIPS / DIRECTORSHIPS

  • Board Member, Health Sciences Authority
  • Member, External Review Panel for SAF Safety
  • Deputy Chairman, Appeal Board of Council of Estate Agents
  • Board Member, Institute of Human Resource Professionals
  • Member, Transplant Ethics Committee (Lay-Persons) appointed by the Ministry of Health

Location(s)

Practice Area(s)

Qualifications

  • LLB (Hons), National University of Singapore
  • MBA (Banking & Finance), Nanyang Technological University
  • Advocate & Solicitor, Singapore

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