ALB Asia Debt & Debt Restructuring Forum 2021

Tham Wei Chern, Director, Fullerton Law Chambers LLC  

Wei Chern’s practice covers commercial and corporate disputes, including shareholders' disputes and breaches of directors' duties, and securities-related and banking litigation. Wei Chern also handles construction disputes, insolvency matters, employment disputes, and defamation claims.

Wei Chern frequently represents clients in the High Court of Singapore and the Court of Appeal. He also acts for clients in international arbitrations. 

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Tahirah Ara, Managing Partner, Singapore and Head of Asia, Mishcon de Reya LLPS

Tahirah is the Managing Partner of the Singapore office of Mischon de Reya and the Head of its Asian practice. She acts as lead counsel for clients in cross-border M&A transactions, joint ventures, and financing transactions, including acquisition financings, receivables-backed financings, high yield syndicated loans and debt restructurings. She has been lead counsel to borrowers in some of the largest debt restructurings in Southeast Asia, including for PT Bumi Resources Tbk., one of the largest coal exporters in the world in its successful US$4.5 billion debt restructuring.
Tahirah is qualified in both the UK and Singapore and her practice focuses on Indonesia.

Tahirah has been recognised for her expertise in restructuring matters and commended for being “commercially minded in her approach” and for her “extensive experience in the Indonesian market” by The Legal 500. She has been identified by the Global Restructuring Review as one of the “Names to know in Indonesia” and one of the most prominent women in its report on “Women in Restructuring 2019”. She is also a member of the INSOL Younger Members Committee.

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Pierre Dzakpasu, Partner, Restructuring Practice, Mayer Brown 

Pierre Dzakpasu is a partner in the Restructuring practice in Mayer Brown's Singapore office. Pierre advises banks and other financial institutions in South-East Asia and South Asia on restructuring matters, work-out transactions and on a wide range of cross-border finance transactions, including special situations, distressed debt, structured financings, acquisition financings, real estate financings and receivables finance.
Pierre has advised creditors on some of the largest restructuring transactions in South East Asia and has been recognized by the Legal500 Asia Pacific as a Rising Star in Banking and Finance in Singapore for 2020 and 2021.

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James Noble, Partner and Head of Litigation, Insolvency and Restructuring, Asia, Carey Olsen Singapore

Based in our Singapore office, James Noble leads the litigation, insolvency, and restructuring practice in Asia and advises on Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, and Cayman Islands law.

A specialist in complex and high-value shareholder litigation, asset recovery, cross-border enforcement and insolvency, James has approximately 20 years' experience working in a wide variety of commercial, trust and estate disputes and private wealth matters. Recognised as an expert in asset recovery in the latest edition of Who's Who Legal, James regularly acts in high profile and market leading cases, particularly in connection with companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

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Dhananjay Kumar, Partner, Insolvency & Bankruptcy, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas 

Dhananjay Kumar advises leading banks and financial institutions as well as developers on aspects of debt restructuring, security enforcement, infrastructure projects, structured financing, recovery of loans and banking and insolvency matters. He is advising leading banks, office-holders and ARCs in various cases under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. 

He is member and fellow of INSOL International and is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute. 

He has been recognised as a “Notable Practitioner” by IFLR 1000 2020 for Project & Project Finance, “Next Generation Partner” by Asia Pacific Legal500 2020 for Restructuring & Insolvency and is mentioned in Chambers and Partners 2020 for Restructuring/ Insolvency in India. 

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Jason Kardachi, Managing Director, Borrelli Walsh 

Jason Kardachi is a Managing Director based in the Singapore office and leads the firm’s restructuring, insolvency and forensic work in Singapore and South East Asia. Jason has led and managed complex debt restructurings and turnarounds, liquidations and receiverships and provided practical and commercial solutions to key stakeholders.

Jason is the founding member of the TMA Southeast Asia (“SEA”) chapter and is the first President of the regional TMA chapter. He was recently awarded the TMA International Chapter Impact Award 2019, and is the first practitioner outside of the United States to have received an Individual award since the launch of the TMA Awards in 1993. Before joining Borrelli Walsh, Jason was a Managing Partner of Teak Capital Partners, an advisory and investment firm focused on special situation and distressed investments across Asia Pacific.

Jason has 25 years of corporate advisory and restructuring experience in Asia Pacific, the last 19 of which have been in Hong Kong and Singapore, initially at PricewaterhouseCoopers and then as Head of Special Situations Asia at HSBC.

Mark O’Reilly, Director, Borrelli Walsh

Mark O’Reilly is a Director based in the Singapore office with over 12 years of experience specialising in corporate insolvency and restructuring across Asia, including Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, India, PRC and various offshore jurisdictions.

Mark has led numerous corporate insolvency assignments including but not limited to Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidations, Compulsory Liquidations, Receiverships and Schemes of Arrangement. Mark has also led various restructuring engagements, acting for both debtors and creditors, with a focus on business reviews, debt restructuring/refinancing negotiations, asset divestments and operational stabilisation across a broad range of industries including shipping, offshore, property, mining services, and financial services.

Mark is identified as a leading advisor in Who’s Who Legal: Restructuring & Insolvency Advisors (non-legal) in 2019. 

Reshmi Khurana, MD and Head of South East Asia, Business Intelligence and Investigations, Kroll  

Reshmi Khurana is managing director and head of Southeast Asia in Kroll's Business Intelligence and Investigations practice, based in the Singapore office. Reshmi has more than 15 years of experience in the United States as well as in South and Southeast Asia conducting complex corruption investigations, litigation support projects, and due diligence on the management, operations, and business models of organizations. Her experience includes helping clients identify and bridge gaps in internal controls and corporate governance through people, processes, and technology.

Alan Chu, Marketing Director, Asia-Pacific, Intralinks 

 Alan is the Marketing Director in Asia-Pacific at Intralinks. He oversees activity across 6 “regions” that span 13 countries and supports the sales teams across the different lines of businesses with various routes to market. Alan has spent time across Canada, the United States, and most recently, Singapore where he worked with fund managers in the alternatives space on placement and marketing projects. He has been recognized for pushing the boundaries with marketing, shortening the sales (fundraising) cycle, and scaling sales/marketing organizations.

David Chew, Partner, and Founder, DHC Capital  

David has over 22 years of experience in restructuring, turnaround and special situations having worked as an advisor with Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen, an investment banker with Morgan Stanley, in senior management as a CRO, CFO, and interim CFO and Board member to distressed companies.

David has worked with and advised private and publicly listed corporates, bank creditors, bondholders, alternative capital providers, and distressed investors across the full range of the restructuring transaction cycle, including crisis stabilisation, business and strategic reviews, strategic options analysis including planning and implementing in and out of Court solutions, operational restructuring and turnaround, debt restructuring and schemes of arrangement, liquidity management initiatives, distressed M&A, rescue financing, refinancing and recapitalisations. 

Heng Cheam, Managing Director, Strategic Investment Group, Asia, Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore  

Heng CHEAM leads the private credit origination and trading at Strategic Investment Group (SIG), Deutsche Bank. He is responsible for originating and executing investment opportunities as well as loan portfolios across Asia. Heng is on the Supervisory Board of Huarong Rongde Asset Management. Prior to joining SIG in 2008, Heng worked on credit proprietary desk at BAML and in investment banking at Lehman Brothers in London and New York respectively. 

Benjamin Crilly, Director, Borrelli Walsh, a Kroll Business 

Ben Crilly is a Director based in the Jakarta office. He has over 16 years’ experience specialising in the fields of restructuring and turnaround in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, PRC and Australia.

Ben has led engagements for such purposes as financial & operational restructuring and turnaround, cross border insolvencies, valuation & transaction advisory and capital raisings. He has worked across numerous industries, including mining and mining services, oil and gas, automotive, aged care, agriculture, manufacturing, retail, food and beverage, hotels and tourism, construction, energy and power, petrochemicals and property.

Kate Lan, Senior Associate, Carey Olsen 

Kate is a senior associate in Carey Olsen's dispute resolution and litigation practice in Singapore. Her main area of practice includes commercial litigation, trust, and estate disputes, shareholder disputes, insolvency, and company law-related disputes. Kate has extensive experience representing clients in cross-border litigation and international arbitration, investor-State dispute settlement, and public international law matters. She has also been appointed as arbitrator by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and is a member of SIAC’s Reserve Panel of Arbitrators and a member of INSOL. 

Amelia Tan, Associate, Carey Olsen 

Amelia is a member of the litigation, insolvency, and restructuring practice in Singapore. She has a broad range of experience in commercial litigation, with a focus on complex, multi-jurisdictional shareholder-related litigation, corporate disputes and insolvency, and restructuring matters. Her practice includes acting in relation to unfair prejudice claims, derivative actions, and the liquidation and winding up of offshore private companies. She also regularly advises listed companies and financial institutions in the region. 

Amantha Chia, Head of Legal Media Group, Asia & Emerging Markets, Thomson Reuters 

Amantha Chia is Head of Legal Media Group, Asia & Emerging Markets at Thomson Reuters. She is based in Singapore and oversees the legal media portfolio which includes the various editions of Asian Legal Business (Asia/ China/ India), Hong Kong Lawyer and LAWnB Education in Korea.  The Group publishes monthly magazines, e-newsletters, websites, events, rankings and training for lawyers in Asia, and has a monthly reach of more than 50,000 legal professionals. Prior to Thomson Reuters, Amantha was a Publisher at Contineo Media and Reed Business Information (a division of Elsevier) overseeing their B2B titles with a combined reach of 40,000 subscribers per month in Television, Entertainment and Travel industries. Amantha has about 17 years’ of experience in B2B Media and is a graduate from the National University of Singapore. 

Jun Palanca, Head of Distribution, Asia Pacific, Loan Capital Markets Asia, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation 

Jun is a member of the Loan Capital Markets Department of Sumitomo Mitsui  Banking  Corporation. He is responsible for the distribution in the Asia Pacific. Jun brings over 25 years of loan syndication, export and agency finance, project finance, asset-based finance, leveraged finance, M&A, and capital markets experience in the Asia Pacific. Before joining SMBC, Jun was at Merrill Lynch (Asia) Ltd in Singapore and Hong Kong where he was responsible for the loan syndication business for Asia and was part of the leveraged finance team in Asia working on leverage and high yield transactions. Prior to Merrill Lynch, Jun spent more than 10 years with ING Bank N.V. in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Manila in the syndication, corporate finance, and PF teams and had been involved in advisory, arranging, and syndicating roles in the Asia Pacific. Prior to that, he was with the corporate finance and risk management teams of Citibank N.A. where he was involved in project finance and structured trade finance transactions. 

Shirlene Leong, Associate, Fullerton Law Chambers LLC 

Shirlene is an associate with Fullerton Law Chambers LLC. She is with the firm’s litigation department and has experience acting for a variety of contentious matters in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal. Shirlene has also experience in insolvency and restructuring situations, and has advised and acted for judicial managers, and liquidators and other insolvency professionals.  She has acted for a litigation trustee in a claim for S$3 billion against the valuers of a Canadian listed company. She is also acting for the judicial managers of one of the largest SGX listed companies. She has also acted for judicial managers and liquidators in various applications under the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act. 

Vaibhav Totla, Managing Director, Head- Special Situations Group, CLSA Capital Partners 
 

Vaibhav Totla is currently the Managing Director and Head of the Special Situations Strategy at CLSA Capital Partners. He brings 17 years of experience, most of which were spent in the  Asian credit and special situations space. Vaibhav has spent many years investing in eth special situations/ distressed debt space in markets like India, Australia, Singapore/ SE Asia, and Indonesia.

Before CLSA, Vaibhav was with the Noble Group from 2014-2017 where he was a part of a team focussed on developing special situations investing business focused on the commodities sector.

Prior to his tenure at Noble, Vaibhav was the Head of Research for Asia ex-Japan for the BAML Special Situations team during the 2008-2014 period. Vaibhav led the research and analytics efforts for the Asia Ex-Japan transactions and was also responsible for the India business. 

Billy Anugerah, Director, SC Lowy Financial (SG) 

Billy Anugerah is Director of SC Lowy Financial (SG) Ltd, heading SEA Special Situation and Distressed Investment initiatives with a focus on private/special situation credit opportunities in Southeast Asia. He previously ran the Southeast Asia Origination and Structured Lending team at Mitsubishi UFJ Lease (Singapore) Pte, Ltd and served as Deputy Chief Manager of Overseas Business Department of Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance Co. Ltd (Japan). Prior, Billy worked on the proprietary credit desk of Lehman Brothers Japan and was also a fixed income specialist covering Japan and Southeast Asia for Bloomberg L.P from 2002-2004. 

Jieying Huang , Director, Asia Pacific Private Debt, Muzinich & Co.  

Jieying Huang is a Director of Muzinich & Co. Asia Pacific Private Debt, focusing on debt financing solutions for middle-market companies in the Asia Pacific. Before joining Muzinich in Singapore, Jieying worked for BFAM Partners and Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Loan and Special Situations Group in Hong Kong where she invested in private debt and special situations / distressed debt opportunities across the Asia Pacific. Prior to that, Jieying worked for Leafgreen Capital Partners, a provider of mezzanine and structured growth funding to middle-market companies in Southeast Asia. 
 

Andy Tan, Head of Loan Syndicate, South Asia, Asia Pacific Strategic Products, Credit Suisse 

Based in Singapore, Andy Tan is Head of Loan Syndicate, South Asia, in Credit Suisse’s Asia Pacific Strategic Products (“ASP”) which brings together the bank’s APAC Financing Group (AFG), Asset Finance and Loan Syndication businesses.   

In this role, Mr. Tan is responsible for the syndication and distribution of financing transactions across the entire ASP product spectrum for the bank’s entrepreneur, corporate, institutional, and sovereign clients in South Asia that includes South East Asia, Australia, India, and Frontier Markets. 

Mr. Tan joined Credit Suisse in July 2018 after eleven years with United Overseas Bank Limited, where he led Loan Syndication for Southeast Asia clients spanning a number of industries including real estate, financial institutions, telecommunications, technology, and energy. 

Mr. Tan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from The University of Chicago and a Master of Science in Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Sloan Fellow and a Robert L. Joss Scholar.

Edward Tong, Managing Director, Head Private Debt Asia, Partners Group  

Edward Tong is Head of the Private Debt Asia business unit and Deputy Head of Partners Group's Singapore office. He is a member of the Global Direct Debt Investment Committee. Edward has been with Partners Group since 2013 and has 17 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Partners Group, he worked at ING Bank across London, Hong Kong and Singapore, covering Asian and European leveraged finance and private debt markets. He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics, UK.

Saurabh Banglani, Executive Director, Nomura Singapore 

<biography to be updated>

Reuben Lee, Managing Director, Head of Private Credit, KAI Investment Management 

Reuben Lee has over 20 years’ experience in credit, special situations, and private equity investments in Europe and Asia, including restructuring, managing, and operating of invested assets. He has aggregated distressed assets in Indonesia, managed direct lending in Greater China, and co-founded a multiple award-winning consumer technology company. Reuben read law at the University of Durham and started his career as a private equity lawyer in London. He is presently Managing Director and CEO at Kai Investment Management which provides discreet, nimble, and innovative capital across alternative asset classes.

Holly Yuen, Director – Head of Singapore, Madison Pacific 

Holly spearheads Madison Pacific Group’s business in South East Asia and has led multiple transactions involving investment funds, banks, institutional trustees, and individuals. She has been instrumental in implementing innovative investment structures and has extensive experience in heading enforcement proceedings, leading inter-creditor and borrower negotiations, and facilitating successful restructurings in complex workout scenarios. Admitted in Hong Kong and England, Holly was formerly a litigation lawyer specialising in commercial and insolvency litigation. 

Badri Ramanujan Jagannathan, Executive Director, Credit Special Situations, Tor Investment Management 

Badri is an experienced credit trader across Europe and Asia. Prior to joining Tor, he worked as an Executive Director in Goldman Sachs in the Structured Credit Trading desk, responsible for principal/private lending to corporates and funds in the Asia Pacific region, including Japan and Australia. He has worked on situations spanning infrastructure, financials, healthcare, aviation & real estate sectors involving various asset classes such as derivatives, receivables, securitisations, loans, and bonds.  
 

Jacqueline Rachelle Yee, CEO, Anglo Fortune Investment Management (AFIM) 

Jacqueline has led global transactions in Restructuring and Special Situations M&A across EMEA, USA and APAC with an established track record in both sell-side and buy-side. She has advised and financed multi-billion dollars in iconic distressed and complex restructurings, and her work and technical reports have been implemented in corporate, institutional, and public policies.

Jacqueline relocated to Singapore in 2019 following a 30-year international career. She is the incoming CEO at AFIM (Alternative Investment Managers), and also serves on Company Boards in the UK, Canada, and the Americas. Formerly, she held senior positions at BNPParibas-Fortis (NL, UK & USA), Viriathus (USA), Société Générale Investment Bank (UK & FR), Bankers Trust Australia, Paladin Australia, and E&Y (NZ & HK/CHN). Multilingual and a summa cum laude graduate in Law, Economics & Econometrics, International Finance, and Accountancy, Jacqueline is a Money 20/20 RiseUp Asia Leadership Awardee, a CA, an ASEAN Scholar, and a Singapore Squash medallist.

Farooq A. Mann, Director, Mann & Associates 

Mr. Mann began his career in insolvency, corporate restructuring, forensic accounting and litigation support in the year 1999. He is a Member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accounts and is a Chartered Accountant of Singapore. He is a Public Accountant registered under the Accountants Act (Chap 2). He is also a Fellow of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore and a member of the Insolvency
Practitioners Association (UK). In addition, Mr. Mann is a member of Insol International and is currently pursuing his Insol Fellow Programme. Mr. Mann is also an Approved Company Liquidator. Mr. Mann is presently the head of Mann & Associates PAC Insolvency practice and leads a team of 4 Directors and approximately 10 people delivering insolvency, restructuring, and forensic accounting services 

James Alexio, Senior Account Manager, Group Special Assets Management, Singapore, Standard Chartered Bank 

James has over 16 years of experience working in both banking and professional services specialising in corporate recovery and restructuring across Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia. James primarily focuses on complex insolvencies and the management of non-performing loans. He is currently the Acting Head, Group Special Assets Management, Thailand and a Senior Account Manager, Group Special Assets Management for Standard Chartered Bank located in Singapore.

Nick Williams, Partner, Hogan Lovells 

Nick represents banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, private equity investors, insolvency accounting firms, and corporate creditors and debtors. His experience covers the Asia Pacific region, having worked on matters in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Nick works extensively on cross-border matters and has significant experience in both out-of-court financial restructurings and formal insolvency processes (schemes of arrangement, judicial management, liquidations).

Nick also has extensive experience in investigations, commercial disputes & international arbitration. 

Neeraj Seth, Managing Director & Head of Asian Credit, BlackRock 

Neeraj Seth, Managing Director, is the Head of Asian Credit and has been in his current role since 2009. He is the portfolio manager for the Asian Tiger Bond Fund and Asia Pacific private credit fund. He leads the strategy for Asian Fundamental Credit and is responsible for providing oversight of the investment process, performance, and the team's infrastructure as well as determining the strategic direction and growth initiatives of the platform. He has been responsible for building the Asian fundamental credit business since 2009.

Prior to joining BlackRock in 2009, Mr. Seth was a Senior Vice President focusing on the Asia Pacific market for R3 Capital Partners. He previously held a similar role with the Global Principal Strategies team at Lehman Brothers. Previously, he was an Associate Partner with McKinsey & Company where he was in the leadership group for the Technology & Telecom practice in Southeast Asia.

Benjamin Fang, Managing Director, Head of Restructuring, Asia, Rothschild & Co