Deal Drivers: Southeast Asia & India

Ajay Arora National Leader and Head of Investment Banking Advisory Ernst & Young

Ajay Arora is National Leader and Head of Investment Banking Advisory at EY, India. Ajay has close to 25 years of Investment Banking experience across Mergers & Acquisitions, Capital Markets and Fund Raising.

With vast experience in sectors such as oil & gas, industrials, automotive, chemicals, power, consumer products and financial services, Ajay has advised leading Indian companies on buying assets in Africa, Europe, and U.S.A and helping global corporations in acquiring businesses in India. He has extensively worked with Indian companies assisting them in raising Private Equity as well as debt.

Ajay is also the national leader for the oil & gas sector at EY India, and has over 15 years of experience in this domain. Over the years, he has worked closely with the National Oil Companies (NOCs) and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Desmond Chua Head of Region, APAC Datasite

Desmond Chua is Head of Region, APAC, who joined Datasite (formerly Merrill Corporation) in 2014.

Desmond is responsible for business development including driving growth and innovation for Datasite clients through the implementation of Datasite solutions that power thousands of deals in more than 170 countries. Datasite’s products are used by professionals across banking, capital markets, insurance, legal, healthcare, energy, and other global sectors and markets.

Desmond has strong relationships with C-suite executives across APAC and is passionate about understanding why clients place their trust in Datasite to complete their most important transactions.

Prior to joining Datasite, Desmond led a team that provided bespoke, top-tier liquidity solutions for banks, brokers, funds and trading desks. He has been regularly featured on Channel News Asia, BBC and ET Now, discussing market outlook and trading strategies. He has also been quoted in the media and newswires – CNBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, AFP, Straits Times and Today.

Find Desmond on Linkedin.

Pankaj Goel Managing Director Credit Suisse

Pankaj Goel is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse and Co-head of Investment Banking & Capital Markets (IBCM), Southeast Asia and Frontier Markets, based in Singapore. In addition to Southeast Asia, he has responsibility for covering Asian frontier markets, including Vietnam, Pakistan, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Papua New Guinea among others. Mr. Goel is also Head of Mergers & Acquisitions, Southeast Asia.

 Mr. Goel joined Credit Suisse First Boston in May 2004 from Deutsche Bank in Singapore. Mr. Goel has advised numerous companies in a broad range of industries on mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures in Asia.

 Mr. Goel holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India and a BE (First Class Honours) Electronics Engineering from Panjab University, India.

Riddhima Saxena Emerging Markets Editor Mergermarket

Riddhima Saxena is the Emerging Markets Editor for Mergermarket and oversees the management and editorial content for SE Asia and India. Based in Singapore, she has been spearheading the regional coverage. Riddhima was earlier based in India where she focused on covering pharmaceuticals, healthcare, and Industrials. Riddhima has 12 years of reporting and writing experience.

Gunjan Shah Partner Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas

Ms. Gunjan Shah is a Partner and serves on the Management Committee of the Firm. She specialises in General Corporate, Capital Markets and Banking & Finance. Her areas of expertise include Mergers & Acquisition, Private Equity Corporate Restructuring, Debt Restructuring, Debt Capital Markets, and Securities and Takeover Regulation in India.

In 2019, FT Innovative Lawyers 2019, Asia Pacific Awards, awarded her transaction, AION and JSW’s acquisition of Monnet Ispat & Energy Limited on innovation in legal expertise. Gunjan has also been recognised by Asia One among 50 most influential Indians under 50 – 2016-17 and in March 2015, was acknowledged in the list of India's Hottest Young Executives - 2015, Business Today's ninth listing of the best and the brightest corporate performers under 40. Gunjan has been recognised as one of India’s top 40 business leaders under the age of 40 by the Economic Times – Spencer Stuart Survey, 2014. She is a fellow of the Aspen Global Network– Kamalnayan Bajaj fellowship and has held a number of positions on legal panels and forums and is a judge at the Oxford-Price Media moot court competition held in Oxford, UK.

“Gunjan Shah handles a broad range of corporate commercial issues. She is a popular choice of counsel amongst both domestic and international entities for advice on investment and restructuring work” (Chambers Asia Pacific 2019). “All-rounder Gunjan has played a prominent role in several loan and bond refinancing matters” and “receives high praise for her legal understanding,” according to (Chambers Asia Pacific Guide 2014). Gunjan has been recognised as a “Leading individual” for Corporate and M&A, by the Legal 500, 2019, and had been described as described as ‘responsive and knowledgeable’ and ‘thoughtful and very knowledgeable’, and “a person who is a mainstay of the banking, finance and capital markets practice”. At AsiaLaw Profiles, 2019, she has been recognised as “Distinguished practitioner” for Corporate and M&A. Gunjan has been associated with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas since 1998 and is part of the firm’s Management Committee. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in law from the prestigious National Law School of India University, Bangalore, and B.C.L from the University of Oxford.

A detailed experience statement can be shared on a confidential basis.

Sze Shing Tan Principal Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow

Biography

Sze Shing Tan has extensive experience in cross-border private M&A in London as well as the Asia Pacific region. Sze Shing’s practice focuses on cross-border private M&A, with particular emphasis on the energy and resources industry, financial services and technology and media sectors. Sze Shing is appointed as one of the Firm's leads for the Global Oil and Gas sub-industry group.

Practice Focus

Sze Shing’s practice focuses on cross-border private M&A, with particular emphasis on the energy and resources industry and financial services sector.

Representative Legal Matters

• Advised an investor in relation to its acquisition of shares in Tickled Media Pte. Limited, the Singapore based media technology owner and operator of various websites and mobile applications concerning motherhood, parenting, education and lifestyle in South East Asia. 
• Advised Waydrive Holdings, a joint venture between 2 Singapore based businesses, on the acquisition of 100% of the share equity in Uber-owned Lion City Rentals, marking the United States ride-hailing firm Uber's exit from Singapore.
• Advised Evergrande Health Industry Group in relation to its acquisition of a 51% interest in National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB for a consideration of USD 930 million  
• Advised Season Smart Limited and Evergrande Health Industry Group Limited in relation to its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Season Smart Limited for HKD 6,746,700,000 and Season Smart Limited in relation to its USD 2 billion investment in the Faraday Future.
• Advised the co-founders of Leyou, Inc. on the disposal by the co-founders, and certain other financial and/or minority investors of their aggregate majority shareholding in Leyou, Inc., China's leading mother and baby care retailer, to funds managed by Warburg Pincus.
• Advised Crescent Point Group in relation to its minority investment in the N Kids and TiNi brand business in Vietnam.
• Advised Dymon Asia Private Equity and the management of Wah Loon Engineering in the acquisition by VINCI Energies Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. of Wah Loon Engineering.
• Advised Royal Dutch Shell plc in relation to its investment in Cleantech Solar, with assets in 8 jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific region and related joint venture arrangements.
• Advised Royal Dutch Shell plc on the sale of its 15% shareholding in Malaysia LNG Tiga Sdn Bhd (MLNG Tiga) to the Sarawak State Financial Secretary 
• Advised Wolverine World Wide on a joint venture with Xtep International Holdings to develop, market and distribute Merrell and Saucony products in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Admissions

• Supreme Court of Singapore~Singapore (2015)
• England & Wales~United Kingdom (2004)

Education

• King's College London, UK (Master of Laws International Business Law) (2001)
• King's College London, UK (Bachelor of Laws) (2000)