Ng Yi Wayn

Biography

Yi Wayn is Head of the firm’s M&A Practice.

Yi Wayn is Head of the firm’s M&A Practice and specialises in Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestments (M&A) as well as Venture Capital (VC) financing transactions. She has represented global and regional clients in various industries, including the TMC (Technology, Media and Communication), Education and Healthcare sectors. She spent three years in the United Kingdom where she obtained her LLB Law Honours degree from the University of Manchester, before she was admitted and qualified as an advocate and solicitor of the Singapore Bar.

Yi Wayn regularly advises clients on cross-border acquisitions and disposals, investments, restructurings and equity capital market transactions in Asia, Europe and the United States. She advises on transactions of various sizes, from seed investments up to deals with transactional value of approximately US$300 million.

Yi Wayn is also a contributing author for the Lexis®Library’s International Corporate Procedures for Singapore (2017 to 2020) and has assisted in the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law’s Corporate Deals programme (2018 to 2020). She has also spoken at accredited CPD workshops on “Advance Contract Law” and “Risk Mitigation and Allocation” that were attended by legal practitioners, business owners, as well as regulators.

Singapore Business Review has recognised Yi Wayn as one of Singapore’s 20 most promising legal luminaries aged 40-and-under. Clients have praised her for her “outstanding communication skills” and responsiveness that were “beyond expectation”. She is also described as one who is “reliable, trustworthy and straight forward”, “honourable and knowledgeable” and “always on top of the game”.

Notable cases

Advised a Singapore multifamily office (MFO) with assets under management (AUM) of approximately S$1.5 billion, in its acquisition by a NASDAQ-listed independent global wealth and asset manager with assets under management and/or advisory of US$65 billion.

Advised a NASDAQ-listed SPAC, in its business combination with a waste management, treatment and recycling company for US$75 million, and the listing of the combined entity on the NASDAQ.

Advised an Indonesian entity (a subsidiary of an entity listed on the SGX), in securing a US$55 million facility from a syndicate of international lenders comprising a major Indonesian and major Dutch bank, for the purposes of working capital and financing the construction of two new factories.

Advised an Indonesian entity in its Mandatory Unconditional Cash Offer for all the shares in a public unlisted company pursuant to Rule 14 of the Singapore Code on Takeover & Mergers.

Advised Indonesia’s fastest growing New Retail F&B chain, in its US$96 million Series C round, giving the company a valuation of more than US$1 billion and placing it as the first New Retail F&B Unicorn from Southeast Asia.

Advised a business solutions provider listed on the stock exchange of Thailand (XBKK), in its acquisition of an Indonesian-based human resources technology provider, for approximately US$60 million, making it ASEAN’s biggest HR, ERP service provider.

Advised a leading provider of high-tech manufacturing solutions for the semiconductor and electronics industry in Singapore, in its sale to a leading Marketing Expansion Service provider listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, for an undisclosed amount.

Advised a leading global mobile payment and mobile identity company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), in its acquisition of an Estonian direct carrier billing company and its subsidiaries in a transaction valued at a maximum enterprise value ofUS$41 million, bringing two major platforms in the direct carrier billing market.

Advised a leading provider of location-based platform services listed on the NASDAQ, on the acquisition by a Singapore-based technology company offering ride-hailing transport services, food delivery and payment solutions, of the technology underlying its platform with a license back of the platform for the continued development of the platform.

Advised an award-winning sustainability solutions provider providing modular, customisable ESG risk management solutions for the financial sector, supply chains, corporate sustainability and investment communities, to secure a boost in funds from one of UK’s leading private equity and property manager.

Advised the largest international parcel delivery network in Europe that is based in France, with presence in more than 40 European countries and serving over 230 countries worldwide, who, together with two sovereign wealth funds, led the Series D funding round of over US$279 million for a Singapore logistics provider with presence in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Hong Kong and prior to that, in its strategic investment of US$75 million in the same Singapore logistics provider’s Series C funding round.

Advised a Singapore-based agri-commodity firm, in their joint venture with Japan’s dairy giant, to manufacture and market plant-based food ingredients.

Advised a US entity that is a leader in digital trust & safety products, empowering digital disruptors to Fortune 500 companies to unlock new revenue without risks, in its acquisition of a pioneer in passwordless and multi-factor authentication, for an undisclosed amount.

Advised a NASDAQ listed digital-native technology service provider that accelerates growth and bolsters competitive advantage for Fortune 1000 companies, in its acquisition of a global consultancy firm focused on digital commerce and where the target’s team of more than 180 employees across the world joined the acquirer.

Advised a leading life science commercialization partner in the United Kingdom, in its acquisition of a premier global market access and health economics outcomes research consultancy with offices across Europe, Asia and the US, by way of a statutory merger, for an undisclosed amount.

Advised a New York-based venture capital firm, as the lead investor in their investment into a (i) Philippines-based Buy Now Pay Later startup for emerging markets, and (ii) a Singapore-based supply chain e-commerce solution for maritime and offshore businesses.