Recognition Proceedings under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency in Singapore and related claims and investigations

• Acting for Sapura Energy Berhad and its subsidiaries as general Singapore law counsel, as well as in multiple ongoing  recognition proceedings in Singapore under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency in Singapore. This is one of the largest restructurings of a Malaysian corporate group involving debts of an estimated RM 10 -12 billion.

• Acting for the BVI liquidators of Three Arrows Fund, Ltd, the feeder fund to Three Arrows Capital, in recognition proceedings in Singapore, and related matters.

• Acted for the Joint Official Liquidators of Ascentra Holdings, Inc (in Official Liquidation) in the recognition of Cayman insolvency proceedings in Singapore. The recognition proceedings involved novel legal arguments on the meaning of “foreign proceedings” under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency in Singapore. We successfully argued before the Court of Appeal – the highest Court in Singapore – that foreign solvent proceedings may be recognised under the Singapore Model Law.

• Acting for the foreign liquidators of multiple corporate entities involved in the 1 MDB fraud scandal in successfully obtaining recognition, and in related investigations and claims.

• Acted for the Joint Official Liquidators of AEI Co, Ltd (in Official Liquidation) in the successful recognition of Cayman Islands insolvency proceedings.

• Acted for the Bankruptcy Estate of Recreo Invest AG, successful recognition of Swiss insolvency proceedings in Singapore. Obtained the successful repatriation of monies in Recreo’s Singapore bank accounts back to Switzerland.

Scheme of arrangement and moratorium proceedings

• Acted for Yongnam Holdings Limited, a leading player in the steel construction industry listed on the Singapore Exchange Mainboard, and its subsidiaries, in their restructuring proceedings in the Singapore High Court, including various successful court applications for moratorium protection.

• Advising and acting for various entities within the Xihe Group as well as the Lim Family on their restructuring, as part of the multi-billion dollar restructuring and insolvency proceedings involving Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd, Ocean Tankers (Pte) Ltd and Xihe Holdings Pte Ltd.

• Advising and acting for Tee International Limited (TIL), an infrastructure and engineering company listed on the Singapore Exchange Mainboard, and its subsidiaries in ongoing scheme moratoria and restructuring proceedings in Singapore. Successfully obtained sanction of a pre-pack scheme, as well as a rescue financing order for TIL’s subsidiary, PBT.

• Acted for PT MNC in the first known application by an Indonesian company for a scheme moratorium and in its successful implementation of a pre-packaged scheme in Singapore.

• Acted for PT Modernland and its related companies in their applications for scheme moratoria and successfully obtaining the sanction of the Singapore Court its pre-packaged scheme in Singapore.

• Acted Pertalahan Arnebatara Natuna (PT PAN) and PT Bumi Hastamukti (PT BHM) in seeking moratorium relief from the Singapore High Court under section 64 of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018. Concurrently advised and acted for Mr Tony Antonius Lie, the President Commissioner of PT PAN and the President Director of PT BHM, on his liability as a guarantor of certain debts owed by PT PAN and PT BHM to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited and PT Bank OCBC NISP Tbk. Successfully set aside default judgment obtained by OCBC and PT OCBC against Mr Lie, and (ii) obtained a stay of proceedings commenced by OCBC and PT OCBC in Singapore on the grounds of forum non conveniens.

• Acted for PT Limin Marine & Offshore in seeking moratorium relief from the Singapore High Court under section 64 of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018. The company is a leading marine offshore services provider. Its core business is in its offshore support services, which include shipping vessels and shipyards, deep sea drilling and offshore engineering. The Company also provides anchor handling, towing, supply and project logistics services.

• Acted for Hyflux a major water treatment company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange in its S$2.3 billion court restructuring (in previous firm).

Insolvency and judicial management proceedings and claims / investigations

• Advising and acting for the insolvency administrators of Wirecard Acquiring & Issuing Gmbh, and Wirecard AG in relation to multiple winding up proceedings and related claims and investigations in Singapore relating to the massive Wirecard fraud involving the sum of over EUR 1.9 billion.

• Acting for the Liquidators of Dextra Pte Ltd, and the bankruptcy trustee of Bernhard Wilhelm Rudolf Weber in tracing funds and pursuing claims owed to the insolvency and bankruptcy estates.

• Advising and Acting for the US Bankrupcy Trustee of Zetta Jet Pte Ltd and Zetta Jet USA, Inc in pursuing Singapore claims.

• Acted for DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited and Maiora Asset Management Pte Ltd in successfully applying to remove the liquidator of Kirkham International Pte Ltd. It is extremely difficult to persuade the court to remove a court appointed liquidator, and in the reported decision of see DB International Trust (Singapore) Ltd v Medora Xerxes Jamshid and another [2023] SGHC 83), the Singapore High Court considered the Court’s power to remove a liquidator and the applicable principles, as well as the statutory obligations of a liquidator.

• Advising and acting for the Judicial Managers of Apollo Aquaculture Group Pte Ltd, a company that operates one of Singapore’s first vertical fish farms.

• Acted for the Liquidators of OW Bunker Far East (KPMG) in a long-running, complex, multi-jurisdictional insolvency following the collapse of the OW Bunker Group, one of the biggest players in the global bunker trading industry (in previous firm).

• Acted for the Bank of New York Mellon as trustee of a US$500 million sukuk bond, in relation to the judicial management proceedings (supervised by the Singapore High Court) of Swiber Holdings (in previous firm).

• Acted for DVB Bank, the Facility Agent and a syndicate of bank lenders in a contentious USD 537 million restructuring, involving the proposed sale of a FPSO (floating production storage and offloading) unit (in previous firm).

• Acted for an Informal Steering Committee of bondholders of Pacific Andes Resources Development Pte Ltd in court restructuring proceedings involving the application for an extra-territorial moratorium (in previous firm).

Litigation & Dispute Resolution / Fraud & Asset Recovery / Recognition of Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards and related enforcement proceedings

• Acting for GLAS SAS (London Branch) as trustee of €250 million of secured exchangeable bonds issued by Euopean TopSoho S.À R.L. Successfully obtained an urgent freezing order in Singapore, in aid of the proceedings in the UK and the BVI. Acting in ongoing recovery proceedings in Singapore.

• Acting for Guangdong Bozi Tongze No. 1 Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) in the recognition and enforcement of a CIETIC arbitral award in Singapore.

• Acting for a special purpose vehicle established by Hopu Investment Management Company in the recognition and enforcement of a HKIAC arbitral award in Singapore.

• Acted for the Joint and Several Receivers and Managers of certain security assets of La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Company Limited and La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Group Holdings Limited in successfully recognising foreign arbitral awards as Singapore judgments, and enforcement proceedings against certain bank accounts by way of an order of equitable receivership. We successfully managed to obtain a novel equitable receivership order against bank accounts which were legally in the name of a nominee company, by establishing that the judgment debtor was the beneficial owner of the assets. We succeeded both before the Singapore High Court and the Appellate Division, with reported decisions issued by both Courts.

• Acted for Transasia Private Capital Limited in obtaining freezing and “chabra” orders against a fraudster involved in the vessel scrapping business, as part of wider litigation strategy to recover proceeds of fraud.

• Acted for a private education provider in proceedings commenced under the Protection from Harassment Act (Cap. 256A) against Google LLC in successfully obtaining interim and permanent false statement orders.

• Acting for Toyota Tsusho Sdn Bhd, in a claim involving an alleged fraudulent scheme that caused an estimated loss of more than RM 179 million. Acting in enforcement proceedings in Singapore.

• Acted for Ernest de la Sala in the Singapore High Court and Court of Appeal in a complex breach of trust dispute over assets valued at between US$600 to US$800 million. This was one of the largest commercial/trust disputes ever to be litigated before the Singapore Courts.

• Appointed as young amicus curiae by the Singapore High Court (per See Kee Oon JC- as he then was) in a case concerning the applicability of the “ultra-hazardous” exception to the independent contractor doctrine in the tort of negligence. The Court recognised his submissions as “succinct, thorough and well-researched” from which the Court derived “considerable assistance”.

• Chambers Asia-Pacific has ranked Keith for the last 4 years running, with client comments such as:

“Keith is very rigorous – I know he has quadruple checked everything”

“His advice is always clear, crisp, and actionable. He is easy to work with”

“Keith’s technical knowledge of the law is comprehensive, and he is a good person to strategise with. He is very good at finding the optimal solution in a case.”

“He is a rising star inside the firm – one to watch out for.”

• Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific has ranked Keith since 2022, with client comments such as:

“Extremely intelligent, sharp and quick on his feet”

“Keith has strong industry knowledge and is very commercial and practical. He is great at coming up with various innovative solutions for the clients to consider. He is an excellent communicator and manages relationships well”

“Quality advice. Innovative solutions. Personalised delivery. Quick turnaround. Reasonable fees.”

“Oon and Bazul are very responsive”

“Oon and Bazul, particularly Keith Han, is very commercial and turns around work very quickly”

• Global Restructuring Review has ranked the practice as one of the top 100 restructuring and insolvency law firms in the world for the past 4 years with clients commenting that:

“Keith is a first-class practitioner”

“Keith has strong commercial acumen”

“The team provided practical advice and were proactive…and that Keith was particularly impressive”

“Keith and his team were very responsive and sound with his advice to us and the board of the client. They also managed stakeholders professionally and gained their confidence with commercially driven solutions”.

“Oon & Bazul is responsive” and “client-friendly”

• International Financial Law Review (IFLR) has cited Keith as a “Rising Star” since 2019, with clients commenting that Keith is “on the ball attentive and practical”

• Who’s Who Legal: Southeast Asia has listed Keith as a Recommended Lawyer in the field of Restructuring and Insolvency for the past 3 years
• Lexology Client Choice Award named Keith as the exclusive winner of the award for Restructuring & Insolvency in Singapore in 2022, based on nominations from over 2500 corporate counsel
• Asialaw Leading Lawyers has ranked Keith as a “Rising Star” in the field of restructuring and insolvency since 2022

• Asian Legal Business included Keith in their 2021 list of the top 40 lawyers in Asia under the age of 40

• Legal 500 Asia Pacific has recognised Keith in consecutive years as a “Next Generation Lawyer” and “Rising Star” who is praised for his advocacy and “very strategic advice”

• In Ng Huat Seng and another v Munib Mohammad Madni and another [2016] 4 SLR 373, Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon (as he then was) recorded his appreciation for Keith’s submissions, which he said were “succinct, thorough and well researched”, and from which the Court derived “considerable assistance”.