Loh Chun Kiat is a Corporate / Mergers & Acquisitions lawyer with a demonstrated experience of advising clients on private equity transactions, public and private mergers and acquisitions, including takeovers of public listed companies, share and asset sale and purchase, investments into mature corporations and start-ups, joint ventures and restructuring.
Chun Kiat has represented clients on both buy-side and sell-side transactions involving acquirers, sellers and targets from different geographies across various industries such as real estate, data centres, property and hotel management, e-commerce, internet, technology, engineering, manufacturing, events management, live-chat services, food and beverage, fund management, shareholder services, energy (including solar energy) and resources.
Featured in Singapore Business Review’s 2020 list of most influential lawyers aged 40 and under, Chun Kiat is noted to be one of the most promising legal luminaries in the industry. He was also named in Asian Legal Business 2020 list of 40 under 40 lawyers, and is noted to be “highly competent, responsive and very commercial” by a client, who also highlights that “he knows the issues and gets transactions across the line and is a fair negotiator who provides commercial and practical solutions to issues”. Another client also commends that Chun Kiat “is sharp” and “can distil the most critical issues out of any situation and land people where they need to be” .
Made possible by accolades from clients and colleagues in the industry, Chun Kiat has also been recognised as a Notable Practitioner in Corporate and M&A by asialaw since the 2020 edition, and a Highly Regarded lawyer in Corporate Law in Singapore by Best Lawyers since the 2021 edition.
EXPERIENCE
Corporate Real Estate
- Acted for Capitaland, a real estate company listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its divestment of its interest in a group of companies holding 20 retail malls in China for approximately S$1.71 billion.
- Acted for City Developments Limited, a real estate company listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its S$977.6 million divestment of Nouvel 18 condominium in Singapore.
- Acted for Tata Communications International Pte. Ltd. in its sale to Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte. Ltd of a 74% stake in Tata Communications’ data centre business for approximately US$640 million.
- Acted for United Industrial Corporation Limited, a company listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its approximately S$761 million voluntary unconditional cash offer through its subsidiary for the shares of Singapore Land Limited, a property developer listed on the Singapore Exchange.
- Acted for VIA IV (BVI) Holdco 8 Ltd (an affiliate of AEW Asia) in the acquisition of the entire issued and paid-up share capital of Westgate Commercial Pte Ltd and Westgate Tower Pte Ltd which collectively own all 295 commercial strata units at the property situated at 1 and 3 Gateway Drive, Singapore and known as “Westgate Tower” for approximately S$680 million.
- Acted as lead counsel for Boustead Industrial Fund in its acquisition of 13 industrial properties for S$333.2 million from Boustead Projects.
- Acted for Mediacorp Pte. Ltd. in its sale of the site of former Caldecott Broadcast Centre, Singapore for S$280.9 million to Perennial Real Estate Holdings.
- Acted for Royal Group in its divestment of So/Singapore Hotel to Viva Land for a consideration of around S$240 million.
- Acted for Far East Consortium International Limited (a real estate company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange) in its sale of a freehold condominium development at 21 Anderson Road, Singapore for approximately S$213 million to Kheng Leong Company (H.K.) Limited.
- Acted for UK private equity firm Schroders in its acquisition of The Wisteria Mall, Singapore for approximately S$208 million from BBR Holdings (S) Limited (a construction and engineering company listed on the SGX-ST).
- Acted for Arch Capital Management in the acquisition of Yongjin Pte. Ltd., the holding company for the property known as the “Anson House” in Singapore for and on behalf of a German fund for approximately S$210 million from Savills Investment Management.
- Acted for Royal & Sons Organisation Pte. Ltd. in the disposal of Royal Hiranandani Pte. Ltd., the holding company for the property known as “Orange Grove Serviced Residences” in Singapore for approximately S$160 million.
- Acted for BP-Vietnam Development Pte. Ltd. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boustead Projects Limited that is listed on SGX) in its acquisition of a 60% stake in KTG & Boustead Joint Stock Company, a property investment company in Vietnam in the logistics and industrial properties space.
- Acted for the DWS and Hines Joint Venture in its acquisition of Bukit Batok Connection (a ramp-up industrial building) for S$93.8 million from Soilbuild Business Space REIT.
- Acted for Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd, a hospitality company listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its joint venture with China Vanke Co., Ltd, a real estate developer listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, in respect of Banyan Tree’s assets in the China for approximately S$90 million.
- Acted for DWS Investments Singapore Limited in its acquisition of Midas (Sunview) Pte. Ltd., the holding company for the property at 11 Sunview Way, Singapore 627540.
- Acted for Changjiang Fertilizer Holdings Limited in its reverse takeover exercise to be a property development and real estate investment company known as Olive Tree Estates Limited that is listed on the Singapore Exchange.
- Acted for SLB Development Ltd (a real estate company listed on the SGX-ST) in its disposal of the entire share capital of Wellprime Pte. Ltd., which owns the property at 50 Lorong 21 Geylang Singapore 388465.
- Acted for Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Ltd, a data centre and logistic company listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its restructuring to establish Keppel DC REIT for listing on the Singapore Exchange.
- Acted for OKP Holdings Limited (a construction company listed on the SGX-ST) in its sale of a 10% stake in CS Amber Development Pte. Ltd. (a property holding company for the development known as Amber Skye) for approximately S$11 million.
- Acted for Blackstone in its acquisition of real properties in Singapore.
- Acted for Mapletree Commercial Trust Management Ltd. (as manager of Mapletree Commercial Trust) for the proposed acquisition of the office and business park components of Mapletree Business City (Phase 1) for S$1.78 billion which required a whitewash waiver from the Securities Industry Council.
Internet, Technology & Engineering
- Acted for Tencent Holdings Limited, a leading internet company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, in its US$1 billion investment in Flipkart Limited, an e-commence company.
- Acted for ams AG, a sensor solutions company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, in its approximately S$1.22 billion acquisition of Heptagon Advanced Micro-Optics Pte. Ltd., a micro-optics and sensing solutions provider.
- Acted for Keppel Land (property arm of Keppel Corporation) in its strategic minority stake investment in Cove Living Pte Ltd, one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing co-living companies, as the lead investor in the start-up’s US$4.6 million Series A funding round.
- Acted for Zendesk, Inc., a customer service software company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, in its acquisition of Zopim Technologies Pte. Ltd., a live chat service provider.
- Acted for Gree Ventures, Inc., the venture capital arm of Gree, Inc. that invests in internet and mobile service such as apps for smart devices, e-commence, advertising technologies and social services, in its investment in Luxola Pte. Ltd., an e-commence cosmetic retailer.
- Acted for INE Holdings, LLC and Providence Strategic Growth Capital Partners LLC in its US$16 million acquisition of Pentester Academy platform (a cybersecurity cloud-based hands on lab platform).
- Acted for Johnson Controls International PLC (a fire and security equipment provider that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange) in its sale of its central monitoring security systems business in South-East Asia to Secom Co., Ltd (a major Japanese security service provider that is listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange).
- Acted for Johnson Controls International PLC in its S$30 million acquisition of cavAsia Pte Ltd (a facilities construction and maintenance company).
- Acted for Crown Technologies Holding Pte. Ltd. in its pre-Series A fund-raising exercise with Heliconia Capital Management.
- Acted for Groups360, LLC (a leading online meetings marketplace company backed by Accor, Hilton, InterContinental and Marriott) in its acquisition of the assets of Idem Labs Pte. Ltd. (an online hotel rooms booking platform provider).
- Acted for City Developments Limited (a real estate company listed on the SGX-ST) in its acquisition of a 30% stake in Ingensys Pte. Ltd. (a property-technology company).
- Acted for Pageant Media Holdings Limited (a provider of business intelligence and insight, delivering content and events as well as performance data) in its acquisition of Eurekahedge Pte. Ltd. (a provider of research data information on the global hedge funds and alternative funds industry) from Mizuho Bank, Ltd.
- Acted for Kata.ai (an Indonesian conversational artificial intelligence company) in its joint venture with PT Siloam International Hospitals Tbk (a listed operator of a large private hospital network in Indonesia) and Venturra Capital (a Southeast Asian focused venture capital firm backed by Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group) in relation to the operation and development of AI Healthcare Platform.
- Acted for China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd, a company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, in its approximately S$137.6 million reverse takeover of Pteris Global Limited (an airport equipment manufacturing company listed on the Singapore Exchange.
- Acted for DMG & Partners Securities Pte Ltd (an issue manager and underwriter) on the S$110 million reverse-takeover of Ultro Technologies Limited (a company listed on the SGX-ST) by Ley Choon Constructions and Engineering Pte Ltd (a local construction company which subsequently got listed on the SGX-ST).
- Acted for Singapore Post Limited, a postal service company listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its approximately S$63.7 million divestment of DataPost Pte. Ltd., a printing and mailing solutions company.
- Acted for Sembcorp Industries Ltd, a leading utilities company listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its acquisition of a 40-megawatt grid-tied rooftop solar power project estimated to be approximately S$55 million.
- Acted for the founders in their sale of Emerald Medical Services Pte. Ltd. (a provider of engineering and manufacturing services for complex medical devices) to IntriCon Corporation (a NASDAQ listed designer, developer and manufacturer of miniature interventional, implantable and body-worn medical devices) for approximately S$13.6 million.
- Acted for Brambles Limited, a pooling solutions company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, in its restructuring and demerger exercise to facilitate the listing of Recall Limited, a company specialising in information management on the same stock exchange.
- Acted for ST-Ericsson SA in its sale of its GPS mobile business to Intel.
Energy & Resources
- Acted for Bain Capital Ltd. in its acquisition of The Dow Chemical Company’s Styron unit, the world’s biggest producer of polystyrene plastic, for about US$1.63 billion.
- Acted for JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation in its acquisition of a fuel provider company in Indonesia.
- Acted for RGE Group, a resource-based industrial group, in its acquisition of Lwarcel Celulose E Papel S.a’s assets in São Paulo, Brazil, including its 250,000 ton pulp mill.
- Acted for Asia New Energy Holding Limited in its voluntary conditional cash offer and its subsequent exit offer for the shares of Asia Power Corporation Limited, a Chinese power plant operator listed on the Singapore Exchange.
- Acted for Baker Technology Limited, a manufacturer and provider of specialised equipment and services for the oil & gas industry that is listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its acquisition of 52.72% stake in CH Offshore Ltd. and the mandatory unconditional cash offer for the remaining shares of CH Offshore Ltd., a vessel operator and offshore support services provider listed on the Singapore Exchange.
- Acted for Rex International Holding Limited (an oil exploration and production company listed on the SGX-ST) in its pre-listing restructuring and convertible loan arrangements.
- Acted for Sembcorp Industries Ltd (a leading utilities company listed on the SGX-ST) in its acquisition of a 40-megawatt grid-tied rooftop solar power project in Singapore estimated to be approximately S$55 million.
Services Industries
- Acted for NTUC Income in (a) its joint venture with Fullerton (Private) Limited, a company wholly-owned by Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, to obtain 49% equity stake in the joint venture company, FFMC Holdings Pte. Ltd. (“FFMC”), and (b) the appointment of Fullerton Fund Management Company Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of FFMC, as the investment manager of a portion of NTUC Income’s insurance and shareholder funds worth an estimated S$23 billion.
- Acted for Dymon Asia Capital (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. / International Culinary Management Ltd in its approximately S$74 million voluntary conditional cash offer for the shares of Select Group Limited, a food and beverage company listed on the Singapore Exchange.
- Acted for L Capital Asia (the private equity arm of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A) in its approximately US$100 million acquisition of over 90% stake in the Crystal Jade Culinary Concepts Group of Companies (a food and beverage group).
- Acted for SATS Ltd (a ground-handling and in-flight catering service provider listed on the SGX-ST) in its joint venture with AirAsia Berhad (an airline listed on Bursa Malaysia).
- Acted for Bright Food (Group) Co., Ltd in its internal restructuring.
- Acted for Sembcorp Industries Ltd, a leading utilities company listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its divestment of its Singapore medical waste division to TEE Medical Services Pte. Ltd., a joint venture company between TEE Infrastructure Private Limited and Dymon Asia Capital.
- Acted for Singapore Post Limited (a postal service company listed on the SGX-ST) in its approximately S$63.7 million divestment of DataPost Pte. Ltd. (a printing and mailing solutions company).
- Acted for The Access Group in its acquisition of the Sage Group Australia and Asia business.
- Acted for Brambles Limited (a pooling solutions company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange) in its restructuring and demerger exercise to facilitate the listing of Recall Limited (a company specialising in information management on the same stock exchange).
- Acted for City Developments Limited, a real estate company listed on the Singapore Exchange, in its acquisition of Systematic Laundry & Healthcare Services Pte. Ltd. and Systematic Laundry & Uniform Services Pte. Ltd.
- Acted as Singapore counsel to Viva China Holdings Limited (one of the leading sports company in the PRC that is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange) in its acquisition of a majority stake in Bossini International Holdings Limited (a well-established apparel brand owner that is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange).
- Acted for Clarion Events (a portfolio company of Blackstone and one of the world’s leading events organiser) in its acquisition of Image Engine Pte. Ltd. (a business to business) technology event organiser.
- Acted for K3 Aviation Pte. Ltd. in its investment in EMA Global Pte. Ltd. (an emergency air ambulance service provider) and its acquisition from Falck Group of its 51% stake in First Ambulance Services Sdn Bhd.
- Acted for ISS Global Forwarding One Person Company LLC in its acquisition of a 75% stake in S-Net Freight (S’pore) Pte. Ltd., a freight service provider.
- Acted for the founders of BLKJ in their disposal of a controlling stake to Havas Group.