Qualifications |
Director
CORPORATE AND FINANCE
About Raymond
Raymond read Law at the National University of Singapore. After completing his studies, Raymond joined Drew & Napier LLC in 2002. He was made an Associate Director in the Corporate Insolvency & Restructuring Practice Group in May 2008.
Areas of Practice
Raymond’s focus has been primarily in commercial litigation with a particular focus on insolvency and corporate restructuring matters. He has acted for clients, both in Singapore and overseas, in a variety of matters, including employment, contract, property and shareholders’ disputes.
Experience
Raymond has been involved in complex insolvency and restructuring matters including judicial management, liquidation and schemes of arrangements. His role includes advising judicial managers and liquidators from international accounting houses; representing distressed companies in debt restructuring exercises; and guiding companies through various daily operational, management and creditor issues, helping them manage risk whilst overseeing their operations.
Since 2002, Raymond has been involved in the US$16 billion debt restructuring of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), one of the world’s largest restructuring exercises. The APP Group has about 150 subsidiaries worldwide including in China, Indonesia, Singapore, Europe, etc. Its creditors include the export credit agencies of various countries such as US, Japan, Germany and France, public and institutional investors, financial institutions and other government agencies.
Raymond was part of an international team of lawyers that successfully restructured the APP Group’s Indonesian subsidiaries. The team also successfully implemented a scheme of arrangement that was sanctioned by the courts in Bermuda that restructured some US$690 million of debt relating to APP’s China operations. The APP Group debt restructuring was named the Singapore Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the Asian Legal Business Awards 2008.
In addition, Raymond was involved in a US$4.2 billion international arbitration that involved one of APP’s subsidiaries brought against an Asian government over a pulp & paper project. Overall, Raymond was involved with a myriad of issues peculiar to the complex debt work-out – debt restructuring and refinancing at various levels of the APP Group, evaluation of financials, enforcement proceedings, reporting and disclosure issues, public relations, as well as domestic and cross-border litigation. Raymond was also involved in anti-dumping and countervailing duties investigations involving certain subsidiaries of the APP Group.
Aside from APP, Raymond advised a large resort group with interests in golf courses and hotels in Malaysia in its RM150 million restructuring of its banking facilities with four major Malaysian banks.
In Singapore, Raymond acted in Singapore’s largest corporate collapse of 2006. He was part of the team that advised the former Citiraya Industries Ltd in its S$400 million debt restructuring exercise and successfully placed the company under judicial management. Citiraya has since relisted on the Singapore Stock Exchange under a new name, Centillion Environment & Recycling Ltd.
Raymond also acted for the judicial manager of Seatown Corporation Ltd, a major construction company listed in Singapore, working on the scheme of arrangement to effect a restructuring of the company’s S$50 million debt and a reverse takeover exercise. Seatown has since relisted under the new name of Asia Strategic Investments Ltd. The restructuring of Seatown Corporation Ltd was named nominated for the Singapore Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the Asian Legal Business Awards 2008.
Raymond has also represented directors and shareholders of several companies in Singapore in shareholder disputes involving breach of fiduciary duties, minority shareholder oppression, management buyout and companies winding up issues.
Areas of Practice
Raymond’s focus has been primarily in commercial litigation with a particular focus on insolvency and corporate restructuring matters. He has acted for clients, both in Singapore and overseas, in a variety of matters, including employment, contract, property and shareholders’ disputes.
Experience
Raymond has been involved in complex insolvency and restructuring matters including judicial management, liquidation and schemes of arrangements. His role includes advising judicial managers and liquidators from international accounting houses; representing distressed companies in debt restructuring exercises; and guiding companies through various daily operational, management and creditor issues, helping them manage risk whilst overseeing their operations.
Since 2002, Raymond has been involved in the US$16 billion debt restructuring of Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), one of the world’s largest restructuring exercises. The APP Group has about 150 subsidiaries worldwide including in China, Indonesia, Singapore, Europe, etc. Its creditors include the export credit agencies of various countries such as US, Japan, Germany and France, public and institutional investors, financial institutions and other government agencies.
Raymond was part of an international team of lawyers that successfully restructured the APP Group’s Indonesian subsidiaries. The team also successfully implemented a scheme of arrangement that was sanctioned by the courts in Bermuda that restructured some US$690 million of debt relating to APP’s China operations. The APP Group debt restructuring was named the Singapore Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the Asian Legal Business Awards 2008.
In addition, Raymond was involved in a US$4.2 billion international arbitration that involved one of APP’s subsidiaries brought against an Asian government over a pulp & paper project. Overall, Raymond was involved with a myriad of issues peculiar to the complex debt work-out – debt restructuring and refinancing at various levels of the APP Group, evaluation of financials, enforcement proceedings, reporting and disclosure issues, public relations, as well as domestic and cross-border litigation. Raymond was also involved in anti-dumping and countervailing duties investigations involving certain subsidiaries of the APP Group.
Aside from APP, Raymond advised a large resort group with interests in golf courses and hotels in Malaysia in its RM150 million restructuring of its banking facilities with four major Malaysian banks.
In Singapore, Raymond acted in Singapore’s largest corporate collapse of 2006. He was part of the team that advised the former Citiraya Industries Ltd in its S$400 million debt restructuring exercise and successfully placed the company under judicial management. Citiraya has since relisted on the Singapore Stock Exchange under a new name, Centillion Environment & Recycling Ltd.
Raymond also acted for the judicial manager of Seatown Corporation Ltd, a major construction company listed in Singapore, working on the scheme of arrangement to effect a restructuring of the company’s S$50 million debt and a reverse takeover exercise. Seatown has since relisted under the new name of Asia Strategic Investments Ltd. The restructuring of Seatown Corporation Ltd was named nominated for the Singapore Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year at the Asian Legal Business Awards 2008.
Raymond has also represented directors and shareholders of several companies in Singapore in shareholder disputes involving breach of fiduciary duties, minority shareholder oppression, management buyout and companies winding up issues.
Appointments / Memberships
-
Member of the Law Society of Singapore
-
Member of the Singapore Academy of Law