ABNR Counsellors at Law

Partner.

Emir, a senior partner at ABNR and member of the firm’s management board, is one of the most respected and versatile lawyers in Indonesia today. After some 30 years in legal practice, he is a market-leading lawyer for project finance & development, banking & finance, corporate / mergers & acquisitions (M&A), and foreign direct investment (FDI). He also offers extensive experience and expertise in restructuring & insolvency, shipping, aviation and technology, media & telecommunications (TMT).

Named “Indonesia Deal Maker of the Year” for two years in a row at the prestigious Asian Legal Business Indonesia Law Awards (2018 and 2019), Emir is listed in Who’s Who Legal for (i) Project Finance (one of only 7 Indonesian lawyers so listed); and (ii) Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions (one of only 4 Indonesian lawyers so listed). He is recognized by Chambers Asia Pacific as a Band-1 lawyer for Banking & Finance, Band-2 lawyer for Corporate/M&A and Band-3 lawyer for Projects & Energy, and is  ranked as a “Leading Individual” for Banking & Finance and Projects & Energy, and is “Recommended” for Corporate and M&A by Legal 500 Asia Pacific. In addition, he is lauded by IFLR 1000 as a “Market Leader” for Capital Markets, Restructuring & Insolvency, Banking, Project Finance, M&A, Energy, and Financial Services.

As head of ABNR’s project finance & development practice, Emir has been involved in most of the major power projects developed in Indonesia in recent years, including the USD 1.74-billion, 1000 MW Cirebon Expansion Project; the USD 3-billion, 2000 MW Java 9&10 project; and the USD 2.7-billion, 2 x 660 MW Tanjung Jati A project.

He is currently working on the recently initiated USD 413-million Peusangan 4 Hydro Peaker Power Plant and the USD 413 million Siborpa Hydro Power Plant, and continues to act for the project company in the Semangka hydro project, and the lenders to the Wampu hydro project and the Asahan hydro project.

In other infrastructure sectors, Emir headed the ABNR team that advised a consortium of domestic and international lenders for the USD 1.846-billion “Trustee Borrowing Scheme Financing” provided to PT Pertamina EP Cepu (a wholly owned subsidiary of Indonesia’s state energy company, PT Pertamina Persero) for the development of the Jambaran-Tiung Biru gas project -- the financing consisted of a USD 1,746,400,000 conventional facility and USD 100,000,000 Shariah-based Wakala facility.

Emir is also the head of our banking & finance practice, where he advises on offshore and onshore financings, including domestic and cross-border syndicated, consortium and bilateral lending transactions, security arrangements, leveraged and acquisition finance, registration and enforcement of loans and security in Indonesia and overseas jurisdictions, loan restructuring, and the sale and purchase of loans.

He offers particular experience and expertise in the highly specialized and complex area of marine financing, where he recently advised a syndicate of India-based banks on their USD 400-million Term Loan Facility to an Indonesian oil and gas services company to refinance the purchase of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading / FPSO unit; and a syndicate of international banks led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch International Ltd. on their USD 250 million loan for the procurement of a powership to be deployed in Indonesia.

In M&A and FDI, he recently assisted General Electric Company with the Indonesian aspects of the USD 6 billion global sale of their water processing technology and industrial technology solutions businesses. He also advised Uber on the Indonesian aspects of the merger of their Southeast Asia operations with those of Singapore-based ride hailing company Grab Inc. (largest deal ever of its kind in the region) and Global Infrastructure Partners on all Indonesian aspects of their USD 5 billion acquisition of Equis Energy (largest renewable energy deal ever).

He is currently assisting Hyundai Motor Company with its ongoing development of a USD 800-million Southeast Asian manufacturing hub in Indonesia, and Pegatron Corporation, a Taiwan-based assembler of Apple iPhones, with their establishment of a new USD 300-million iPhone manufacturing operation in Batam province in Indonesia.

In restructuring & insolvency, Emir acted for a number of oil and gas service providers in the recently concluded USD 412-million debt restructuring of PT Apexindo Pratama Duta, one of Indonesia’s biggest oil and gas drilling companies.

Previously, he headed the ABNR team that acted for China Development Bank (one of the largest creditors at USD 600 million) in the USD 4.5-billion Bumi Resources global debt restructuring, the largest such deal in Southeast Asia at the time and one of the most complex deals of its kind ever in the region – the team also represented two other creditors, Madison Pacific Trust Ltd and Pathfinder Strategic Credit LP, during the debt moratorium process (PKPU) in the Indonesian Commercial Court.

He was also counsel to a major Japanese integrated trading and investment conglomerate in the approx. USD 2-billion debt restructuring of PT Asmin Koalindo Tuhup, and acted for various vessel lessors’ creditors and shipowner entities in the USD 2-billion Indonesian court-sanctioned debt restructuring of PT Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk, one of the longest and most complicated court-sanctioned restructuring processes ever in Indonesia.

In shipping, he advises ship owners, operators and charterers; marine insurers and reinsurers (including P&I insurers, and hull and machinery underwriters); freight forwarders and other shipping agents; cargo interests; and lending banks and other financial institutions. His expertise extends to all areas of shipping law, including cabotage, ship registration, ship financing and security enforcement; ship mortgages, charges and securitization; oil, gas and mineral ore transportation, and marine insurance

Emir is also a market-leading lawyer for aviation - his recent mandates include advising BNP Paribas on the Indonesian aspects of its USD 100 million loan to Ireland-based Wafu Aviation Designated Activity Company to partly refinance its acquisition of 5 aircraft; Waypoint Leasing (an Ireland-based helicopter leasing company) on the Indonesian aspects of the sale of of four helicopters following Waypoint’s filing for bankruptcy protection in November 2018; Marathon Aviation Fund, LP on the Indonesian aspects of the purchase, novation and financing of one aircraft from Aircastle; and BNP Paribas Group and ING for the Indonesian aspects of the refinancing by an Irish borrower (a subsidiary of ICBCIL Aviation Co., Ltd) of 2 aircraft (a B737-800 and an A320-200).

In the TMT arena, Emir’s clients comprise many of the world’s leading technology and social-media companies, including China-based internet technology giant ByteDance and its subsidiary TikTok; China-based Tencent (the world's largest internet services companies); and a number of leading U.S.-based tech and social-media companies and their subsidiaries in various jurisdictions around the world. He also regularly advises fintech, e-commerce and e-travel companies on regulatory & compliance and strategic issues related to their projects in Indonesia.

Indonesian and English.

Indonesian Bar Association; PERADI (Indonesian Advocates Association).

LLB, University of Indonesia (1989); LLM in International Transactions, Bond University, Australia (1993).