Ashurst has boosted its Asian banking and finance practice with the addition of partners Eric Tan and Daniel Lau, who will be joining its Hong Kong office and serving its China clients. Tan has more than 15 years of experience acting for major banks in the region on complex financing deals. He specialises in acquisition finance, cross-border lending, structured finance and other banking matters. He worked at Linklaters before joining Fangda Partners in 2016. On the other hand, Lau joins from Allen & Overy’s Beijing office, where he advised on a wide range of debt-related transactions, such as structured and acquisition finance, real estate finance, project finance and syndicated loans. He has significant experience working with financial institutions and corporates in financings for China outbound investment and acquisition by Chinese companies.
Gadens has added Archie Smith as a partner in its property, construction and planning group. Joining the Sydney office, Smith joins after 12 years as a partner at Kemp Strang’s property practice. He is highly experienced in the acquisition, disposal and structuring of commercial and industrial transactions, mixed-use and multi-stage developments, landholder projects, complex leasing and licensing, portfolio sales, subdivisions, and strata titling. He also advises clients on property finance.
Hogan Lovells will add Ian Gordon in the firm’s corporate practice as a partner in the Perth office. Gordon is an energy and resources lawyer with broad corporate transactional and regulatory capabilities. He has worked on a large number of the most significant offshore and onshore LNG/oil and gas projects in Australia, as well as in Southeast and Central Asia and Europe. He advises on all aspects of Australian offshore and onshore petroleum laws and regulations, and is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators. In the resources space, Gordon advised on a large number of cross-border mining project interest acquisitions in Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as on mining and procurement activities for Australian operators. He advises on all aspects of Australia mining laws and regulations. He joins from King & Wood Mallesons, where he advised clients on their investments into Australia. Before that, he was a partner in the energy, mining and infrastructure group of the Tokyo office of a large US firm, where he primarily advised Japanese utilities and trading houses on their overseas energy and resources assets and investments.
Tilleke & Gibbins has added Jay Cohen as partner and director of the firm’s Cambodia operations, as of February 1, 2018. A 14-year veteran of Asian investment markets with a decade in Cambodia, Myanmar and Singapore, he brings a wealth of experience in inbound and outbound investments. His practice covers every stage of the investment process, from providing exploratory advice and preliminary due diligence, to implementing appropriate corporate and investment structures, advising on continuing operations, and negotiating and drafting commercial contracts. Cohen has particular expertise in the energy industry, frequently assisting clients with acquisition of energy resources and infrastructure, handling upstream licensing and transactional work, and advising on regulatory compliance in emerging Southeast Asian markets. He is a trusted adviser to businesses on a variety of general corporate, commercial, intellectual property and compliance matters in Cambodia. Cohen joins from a prominent regional law firm, where he was a partner and country manager of the its Cambodia operations for the past eight years. He has also previously worked in private practice in Myanmar and Singapore, and as in-house in Seoul at one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates.
Walkers has added Callum McNeil in its Hong Kong office as a partner in the insolvency, restructuring and dispute resolution group. He has over 16 years of experience, with 11 of those focused on offshore law, working in the major offshore jurisdictions of The British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Guernsey. He has regularly appeared before the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands and, for the past six years, the BVI Commercial Court. McNeil has broad experience across the contentious sector, with particular expertise in investment funds disputes, shareholder disputes, cross-border insolvency and trust litigation.
