Chia Chee Hoong

Partner

Chee Hoong has extensive experience in corporate M&A and financial services work. His areas of practice include mergers and acquisitions, securities regulation, corporate and debt restructurings, joint ventures, and inward and outward investments.

He has worked on numerous notable transactions in the area of mergers and acquisitions in Malaysia (in particular in the banking and financial services sector), including the restructuring of a leading general insurance company in Malaysia, the de-merger of a leading Islamic bank from the largest commercial bank in Malaysia, the consolidation of merchant banking, stockbroking and discount house businesses and mergers and acquisitions involving investment banks, insurance companies and stockbroking companies.

Chee Hoong has represented a wide spectrum of clients, including sovereign wealth funds, government investment corporations, pension funds, government-linked corporations, private equity firms and institutional investors, on both the domestic and global fronts.

Chee Hoong is recognised as a leading Corporate/M&A lawyer by Chambers Global/Asia-Pacific, in which he was described as a "very sensible and responsive" practitioner, and "experienced, very commercial and hardworking - the right qualities you need in an M&A lawyer". Clients appreciate that he “provides well-rounded advice that is business-driven”. He is also recognised as a rising star by IFLR1000 and was referred to in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific as being “very practical”.

In 2003, Chee Hoong was awarded a British Chevening Scholarship by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom to pursue his post-graduate studies at University College London, United Kingdom. He holds an LL.M. in Corporate & Securities Law.

Chee Hoong is concurrently a partner in Allen & Gledhill LLP, the Firm’s associate firm in Singapore and Allen & Gledhill (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company.

Work Highlights

• Advised Charoen Pokphand Group as Malaysian counsel, on its acquisition of Tesco’s businesses in Thailand and Malaysia – the biggest corporate acquisition in Thailand’s history and one of the largest in Asia.
• Advised Unicharm Corporation as Malaysian counsel on its acquisition of the entire shareholding in DSG (Cayman) Limited, the holding company of DSG International (Thailand) Public Company Limited, which manufactures and sells sanitary products in South-east Asia (including Malaysia) for the consideration of US$530 million.
• Acted as Malaysian legal counsel to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P in its acquisition of a strategic stake in Weststar Aviation Services, the leading helicopter services provider for the oil and gas industry in the South-east Asian region, and in relation to ancillary commercial agreements such as a transition services agreement and an asset restructuring agreement.