March 06, 2012
Latham & Watkins was named “Most Innovative US Law Firm” in the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) 2012 Asia Awards. “Latham & Watkins continues to go from strength to strength in Asia, with the firm picking up a series of interesting mandates,” said IFLR, including “the first coal-fired project to close under [Vietnam’s] build-operate-transfer regulatory regime,” among other high profile matters.
Latham scooped the “Project Finance Team of the Year” accolade for its work on a number of ground-breaking mandates, with IFLR noting: “Latham & Watkins has an excellent reputation for project finance work in Asia.” The firm advised on two shortlisted Deals of the Year: the Mong Duong II coal-fired power plant in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province, which was “the first coal-fired project to close under the country’s build-operate-transfer regulatory regime,” and the Jurong Aromatics $1.6 billion senior secured financing to build its Singapore greenfield petrochemical plant, which was “one of the first project financings of its type in the world to include a senior subordinated debt tranche” and which ultimately was named IFLR’s “Project Finance Deal of the Year.” IFLR added: “The limited recourse financing is widely considered to be one of the most complex project financings on non-recourse terms in the region.”
Latham also advised on IFLR’s “Private Equity Deal of the Year” – the $78 million “precedent-setting” acquisition by Indonesia Media Partners, an affiliate of Saban Capital, of a minority stake in Global Mediacom’s Media Nusantara Citra. Described by IFLR as “the first true Pipe [Private Investment in Public Equity] deal by a global private equity fund in Indonesia,” the investment is expected to “open up the possibility of private deals in Indonesia’s public companies.”