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What motivated the firm to set up shop in Singapore?
There were a couple of factors indicating that opening a Singapore office would be a great thing to do. First, a lot of our New Zealand clients do business internationally. More and more, these companies are setting their sights on Singapore as the tech and business hub of Southeast Asia, particularly since Xero (the Kiwi online accounting software company) announced it was opening a regional office in Singapore.
Secondly, Lee Bagshaw joined us at the start of 2015 from a major Singapore law firm [Editor’s note: Bagshaw was the head of corporate technology at RHTLaw Taylor Wessing]. During his time there, Lee was a champion of the Singapore start-up and venture capital scene, so many of his Southeast Asian network kept in touch and kept referring financing and similar work to him in New Zealand.
Finally, we felt there was no tech and venture law firm focusing on Southeast Asia, unlike in the U.S. We believed there was a gap to be filled using our sector and international experience. Given these factors, it simply made sense to us to have a presence in Singapore.
What is your current office size, and how would you describe your expansion plans for the next year?
We chose to do a soft launch of our Singapore office, so it is currently being led by Chris Wilson, who is a senior member of our firm. We expect to have another permanent lawyer on the ground by the end of the year.
As for future expansion, that will depend on the speed with which our Singapore office succeeds. We operate an agile law firm, aiming to scale up and down quickly to meet our clients’ needs.
The Singapore office is being heavily supported by Lee and Andrew Simmonds, our senior partner, both of whom are travelling to Singapore regularly to support Chris.
What kind of work do you plan to focus on in Singapore?
Our focus is to provide “in-market” support to both our New Zealand and Southeast Asian clients looking to expand into Singapore and across the region. This support will include advising on capital raising and venture capital transactions, M&A work as well as helping companies to commercialise IP, for example, customer agreements, distribution and reseller agreements, IP transfers, etc.
We also looking to assist companies in establishing themselves properly so that they are well-placed when they want to raise capital or exit (e.g. helping with employee share schemes and shareholders agreements).
Some of this work will require local law advice and, in this case, we work with local firms. If this is required, we can provide appropriate introductions and, if requested, manage this process for the client.
How large is your existing client base in Singapore, and what kinds of companies do you advise?
Given we’re a boutique law firm, we think we “punch above our weight” in terms of the size of our Southeast Asian client base.
To date and because Singapore is a branch of the New Zealand operations, we haven’t ring-fenced our clients by country. However, as a whole, the firm acts for over 350 technology businesses and we are adding to this month-on-month.
Our Singapore clients include New Zealand-based companies operating out of Singapore or other Southeast Asian markets, early-stage Southeast Asian companies raising capital and basing themselves in Singapore, and venture capital and other investor clients.
To contact the writer, please email raj.gunashekar@tr.com