Thomas Choo
Direct
Main office
Thomas is a partner based in the Singapore office. His practice focuses on corporate finance and regional mergers and acquisitions involving private equity, trade sales and competitive bids, local and regional joint ventures, corporate restructuring and corporate administration. He is particularly active on cross border transactions in South East Asia such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.
As a key member of the global employment practice group, Thomas regularly advises on a wide range of employment and immigration matters including the drafting, design and review of employment contracts, handbooks and manuals, as well as on the termination of employment contracts, employee incentive and compensation schemes; and general corporate compliance issues, including corporate secretarial, data protection and anti-bribery & corruption.
Thomas is also part of the Asia Pacific corporate insurance group and has both corporate insurance and insurance regulatory experience. He has a wealth of experience in commercial insurance agreements, particularly distribution arrangements and insurance outsourcing arrangements, and has regularly advised insurers on regulatory compliance in Singapore.
Thomas is admitted as a solicitor in both Singapore and England & Wales.
Joint venture – Acted for Mitsui & Co Ltd. in the acquisition of a 30% stake in Integrated Healthcare Holdings Sdn Bhd via a combination of subscription for new shares and acquisition of shares from Khazanah Nasional Berhad, for an aggregate consideration of RM3.3 billion
Mergers & acquisitions – Acted for Whittington Group on the sale of its direct-to-consumer online operation DirectAsia to Hiscox plc, a subsidiary of Hiscox Ltd., an international insurance specialist insurance group listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:HSX), for a consideration of USD 55 million plus earn out over a period of four years
Corporate Finance – Acted for Stemcor on its US$2.24 billion debt restructuring which involved the conversion of Stemcor’s existing revolving credit facilities into a term loan , together with the provision of a US$1.15 billion new syndicated trade finance facility
Ship Finance – Acted for a US lender on its US$ 360 million credit facility to a Singapore shipowner to finance the construction of six LPG carriers
Private Equity – Lead counsel for a well-known and successful private equity firm in its bid (via an auction process) in the acquisition of one of the largest global offshore engineering company focused on specialist subsea cable installation and maintenance services, with subsidiaries in over ten countries
Joint venture – Acted for DBS Bank Ltd and a consortium of high net-worth Middle-Eastern individuals and corporations in their joint venture for the establishment of and US$500 million investment in The Islamic Bank of Asia
Joint Venture – Acted for DOT Holdings AS (a strategic partnership joint venture company between Norwegian listed company Oceanteam Shipping AS and Oil & Gas Services Maritime B.V.) with Pacific Radiance Limited (a Singapore listed company) engaging in the business of owning and chartering offshore support vessels
Insurance Regulatory – Acted for numerous insurers (such as Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance) in securing the appropriate licences to conduct their insurance or broking business in Singapore, advisory regulatory work and the drafting and review of insurance policies and other commercial insurance agreements
Employment and Immigration – Advised and assisted on a range of employment and immigration matters including:
establishment of employee share option schemes and drafting of share option plans and option agreements;
reviewing and drafting of employment and service agreements, termination letters, warning letters, ex gratia payment letters and waiver letters; and advising on various matters of employment law including applications for employment and dependants’ passes and immigration matters, termination of employment, summary, wrongful, unfair and constructive dismissals, enforceability of restrictive covenants, statutory protection of employees covered by the Singapore Employment Act and statutory protection of pregnant employees and maternity benefits
Corporate compliance, Secretarial and Administration – Advised and assisted on a range of matters relating to corporate re-organisations, capital restructuring, capital reductions and company administration including:
incorporation and registration of different vehicles in Singapore; drafting and reviewing of memorandum and articles of association and directors’ and members’ resolutions;
being appointed as company secretary of at least 80 companies (both public and private) (e.g. The Islamic Bank of Asia Limited); maintenance of company records and statutory compliance issues; and
attendance at board meetings