Drew & Napier - Partners' Profiles

Boon Ann is the Deputy Managing Director of Drew & Napier's Corporate and Finance Department. He began private practice in 1987. He spent some time in academia as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, before returning to private practice in 1992 when he joined Drew & Napier. He was a Partner from 1994 to 2001 and became a director upon the corporatisation of Drew & Napier.

Boon Ann is cited as a leading corporate lawyer in capital markets in many legal publications such as The Asia Pacific Legal 500, IFLR 1000, PLC’s Which Lawyer?, and Chambers Global and Asia.

The Asia Pacific Legal 500 has listed Boon Ann as a leading individual in the area of capital markets for 7 consecutive years. It has noted Boon Ann’s ability to “see legal issues from a commercial perspective” (2011/12 edition), to be “refreshingly solutions-oriented” (2010/11 edition), and to be “an active figure in a practice which leverages off expertise in disputes, finance and corporate”.

The IFLR 1000: The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms 2011 notes that clients "have good working rapport with Sin Boon Ann in dealing with transactional issues and regulatory issues," and cited him as being "dynamic in terms of pitching for deals. His approach to legal issues is commercial, yet he is aware of regulatory concerns. He'll think out of the box for ideas for our clients."

Areas of Practice

Boon Ann practises mainly in the areas of Corporate Finance, Cross-Border Investments, Mergers and Acquisitions, as well as Banking and Finance.

Experience

Boon Ann has extensive experience in corporate finance transactions. His work includes acting as counsel in relation to initial public offerings of securities as well as mergers and acquisitions including reverse takeovers. Boon Ann acted as counsel in approximately a quarter of initial public offerings in Singapore in 2009 (7 out of 28 initial public offerings). He also acts as counsel to listed companies on secondary equity offerings, debt offerings as well as advises on regulatory compliance. He has actively advised on info-communication matters, and has acted as counsel to banks on a number of loan transactions.

Boon Ann was formerly a member of the Legal Panel on Convergence Issues Committee established by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore.

Boon Ann was also a member of the Company Legislation and Regulatory Framework Committee ("CLRFC") appointed by the Ministry of Finance, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Monetary Authority of Singapore in December 1999. The CLRFC was tasked "to undertake a comprehensive and coherent review of our company law and regulatory framework and recommend a modern company law and regulatory framework for Singapore which accords with global standards and which will promote a competitive economy". The CLRFC presented its final report to the Singapore government in October 2002.

Boon Ann was a Member of Parliament for Tampines GRC from 1996 to 2011.

Representative Transactions

Some matters that Boon Ann has handled include:

Acting for PetroChina International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd, a subsidiary of PetroChina Company Limited, in the acquisition of the initial block of shares as well as in the subsequent general offer and the compulsory acquisition of residual minority shares in Singapore Petroleum Company (“SPC”) which valued SPC at S$3.2billion in its entirety. The transaction was one of the most significant takeovers in the Energy sector in recent years: Asian Legal Business SE Asia Law Awards – Singapore M&A Deal of the Year 2010, Asian-Counsel Deals of the Year 2009.
Acting for Eng Wah Organization Limited in relation to its S$675.0 million reverse takeover by Transcu Ltd.; this transaction was a nominee for "Equity Market Deal of the Year" in the BMW Asian Legal Business South East Asia Law Awards 2009.
Acting for Eng Wah Organization Limited in relation to the disposal of its business and property assets for S$113.0 million.
Acting for Healthway Medical Corporation Limited in its S$48.8 million initial public offering and listing, one of the first Catalist listings in Singapore in 2008.
Acting for an issuer, Lucky Condotel Limited, and its guarantor, Lucky Square Pte. Ltd., in relation to the issuance and listing on The Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited of S$105.0 million secured fixed rate notes and S$105.0 million secured floating rate notes, both due on 31 August 2011.
Acting for Seatown Corporation Ltd (in Judicial Management) in its S$83.6 million Scheme of Arrangement.
Acting for Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments Limited in its listing by introduction pursuant to Seatown Corporation Ltd’s (in Judicial Management) S$83.6 million Scheme of Arrangement.
Advising Connect Holdings Limited in its US$96.2 million (approx.) tender offer for Pacific Internet Limited, a Singapore incorporated company listed on NASDAQ.
Advising an American gaming company in its proposed bid for the Sentosa Integrated Resorts mega-project in Singapore.
Acting for Sarin Technologies Ltd in its S$22.1 million initial public offering and listing, the first Israeli company to be listed in Singapore in 2005.
Acting for Petra Foods Limited in its S$156.0 million initial public offering and listing; this transaction was nominated by Asian Legal Business as the Cross-border Equity Deal of the Year for 2004.
Acting for the issuer managers in the offering and listing of US$1 billion Upper Tier 2 subordinated bonds issued by a major Singapore bank.
Acting for the issuer in the offering and listing of notes issued pursuant to a US$500 million medium term note programme issued by a major Singapore government-linked corporation.