Margaret Chin

Partner

Margaret’s areas of expertise span capital markets, banking and finance.

Margaret is Head of the Debt Capital Markets team. She has substantial experience in a wide range of debt offerings including vanilla bond issues, medium term note programmes and hybrid instruments as well as liability management exercises. She regularly represents financial institutions, local and overseas corporations as well as statutory boards. Margaret also has considerable experience in asset securitisations, loan syndications, banking, property finance and project finance.

Margaret is listed in IFLR1000 Women Leaders 2020 - Asia-Pacific, a guide that recognises the elite cohort of leading female lawyers in the world. She was also inducted into The Legal 500 Hall of Fame for Capital Markets: Equity and Debt.

She is widely recognised as a leading lawyer in capital markets by many notable legal publications including Chambers Asia-Pacific, Chambers Global, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, IFLR1000 and Who’s Who Legal: Capital Markets. Chambers Asia-Pacific notes that Margaret “has an excellent reputation in the market” and “is feted by clients, with one saying: ‘Margaret Chin remains up to date with changes in the market and regulatory environment. She offers good advice on how to deal with and settle documentation issues’”. She is also noted to be “a very sharp and experienced lawyer who most clients would want on their side of the negotiating table”. A source also describes Margaret as “‘head and shoulders above everybody else’ for debt capital markets work, with extensive experience planning MTN programmes, structured notes and other bond issuances.” In Who’s Who Legal, Margaret “is considered one of the foremost names for debt capital markets work in the region” and is recognised as a “go-to adviser to major financial institutions and corporations”.

Margaret has contributed to a number of publications including the Singapore chapter to the Capital Markets Global Guide 2021/2022 – Debt Capital Markets, Debt Capital Markets in Singapore: Regulatory Overview, and Structured Finance and Securitisation in Singapore: overview, which were published by Practical Law Company.

Margaret joined the Firm in 1990 after she was called to the Singapore Bar and has been a Partner since 1996.

Work Highlights

• Acted for DBS Bank Ltd, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, Standard Chartered Bank and United Overseas Bank Limited in the establishment of S$5 billion guaranteed medium term note programme by Temasek Financial (IV) Private Limited guaranteed by Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited and the issue of S$500 million fixed rate guaranteed notes under the programme to the retail public.
• Acted for Surbana Jurong Private Limited on establishment of US$1 billion multicurrency debt issuance programme and the issuance of S$250 million 2.48 per cent. sustainability-linked notes due 2031. The notes were issued under its newly established Sustainable Finance Framework. It is also believed to be the first Singapore dollar-denominated sustainability-linked bond and the first public sustainability-linked bond issuance from a Southeast Asian based company. This is also the first Asian sustainability-linked bond to feature a premium step-up structure at maturity.
• Acted for CLCT MTN Pte. Ltd. and HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Singapore) Limited (in its capacity as trustee of CapitaLand China Trust) on the issue of CNY600 million 3.80 per cent. guaranteed bonds due 2026. This is the first free trade zone offshore CNY bond issue by a Singapore-based issuer and CLCT’s first issuance of bonds denominated in CNY within the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.
• Acted for STT GDC Pte. Ltd. on the establishment of S$1.5 billion multicurrency debt issuance programme and the issuance of S$500 million 5.70 per cent. sustainability-linked perpetual securities. It is the first Singapore dollar-denominated sustainability-linked perpetual securities (“SLP”), the first public benchmark SLP in Asia, and the first public perpetual securities issued by a pure play data centre.
• Acted for CIMB Bank Berhad, Singapore Branch and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, on the issue of S$100 million fixed rate sustainability-linked guaranteed bonds due 2029 by HSBC Institutional Trust Services (Singapore) Limited (in its capacity as trustee of Sabana Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (“Sabana Industrial REIT”)). The bonds are unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by the Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (“CGIF”), a trust fund of the Asian Development Bank. The Bonds are the first Singapore dollar-denominated CGIF-guaranteed sustainability-linked bonds in Asia, the first listed CGIF-guaranteed bonds aligned to the ASEAN Sustainability-Linked Bond Standards, and the first CGIF-guaranteed bonds issued by an industrial REIT in Asia. The bonds are also Sabana Industrial REIT’s first non-sukuk bond offering.