Adnan Sundra & Low

ADNAN SUNDRA & LOW 

www.asl.com.my

tel: 603 2070 0466 fax: 603 2078 3382

Managing Partner(s): Deepak Sadasivan

Number of partners: 26 Number of Consultants: 3 Number of Lawyers: 63

 Firm overview:

ADNAN SUNDRA & LOW was established in August 1975 and has been consistently ranked as a leading law firm in Malaysia with a reputation for delivering quality and effective legal services and solutions.

Main Areas Of Practice:-

Banking & Finance, Capital Markets, Islamic Finance

Our team has advised on local and cross-border banking and finance transactions, inclusive of acquisition finance, corporate finance, project finance, debt restructuring, and the following market­-pioneering transactions:

• the world’s first, and Malaysia’s largest, exchangeable Sukuk;
• the world’s first perpetual sukuk ;
• the world’s first Green SRI sukuk;
• Malaysia’s first Islamic stapled securities transac­tion;
• Malaysia’s first municipal bonds;
• project financing of the first independent power utility in Malaysia and the first coal-fired independent power plant in Malaysia, also the biggest in Southeast Asia; and
• many significant Malaysian IPOs including Malaysia’s largest IPOs in 2015 and 2017, Asia’s largest IPO in 2012 and Southeast Asia’s largest IPOs in 2009 and 2010.

Corporate M&A

Our team is able to advise on a full range of corporate advisory issues, and our track record includes advis­ing on :

• establishment of the first Shariah compli­ant unlisted real estate investment trust (REIT), which is also the first education REIT in Malaysia;
• the joint venture between Malaysia’s largest petroleum company and a Saudi-Arabian petroleum company in relation to a USD7 billion investment in a refinery and petrochemical integrated development project in Malaysia;
• the acquisition of the first deepwater semi-submersible floating production system in the Asia Pacific region;
• a global agribusiness and food company’s USD1 billion acquisition of a majority interest in a specialty fats/edible oils producer from a leading Malaysian plantation group;
• a merger between hyper­market operators creating the third-largest hypermarket operator in Malaysia;
• a number of mergers between Malaysian banking and financial institutions; and
• corporate debt restructuring schemes under section 176 of the Malaysian Companies Act 1965 and 2016.

Dispute Resolution

Our team has represented most major Malay­sian financial institutions and is experienced in handling a broad range of complex banking, contractual, commercial, employment, restructuring and insolvency matters in Malaysian courts and arbitration tribunals in Malaysia and worldwide. Our notable work includes:

• acting for Malaysia’s largest bank in obtaining vesting orders effecting the ownership transfer of non-performing loans, part of the first ever sale of non-performing loans in Malaysia via open auction;
• acting for the applicant in the issuance of the first ever High Court order preventing a party or its nominees from using a restraining order under section 176(10) (A) of the Companies Act 1965 to delay the rights of a lender or security holder;
• acting for the security trustee in a foreclosure action resulting in the first ever decision of an Malaysian appellate court affirming a chargee’s right to exclude a structure (where individual titles have not been issued) from foreclosure of the master title; and
• obtaining an order for the appointment of a receiver and manager over a missing person’s estate.

Real Estate

Our real estate practice is premised on ensuring that clients benefit commercially from real estate opportunities and we had advised a number of specialist real estate transactions including:

• the joint development of over 110 acres of land, which include the construction and sale of residential units, retail units, hotels, service apartments, office towers, commercial shops and offices;
• the sale and transfer of iconic na­tional landmark structures in Kuala Lumpur between the holding company and its group real estate investment trust;
• complex land issues in the listings of significant listed property development companies and palm-oil plantation companies, involving some 350,000 hectares of land held under more than 1,200 titles; and
• the sale and purchase of a five-star international hotel and hotel business in Kuala Lumpur.

Projects Energy & Infrastructure 

Our projects energy and infrastructure team has advised on some of the largest and most sophisticated projects which include the following:

• the proposed Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail Project;
• a foreign joint venture on the Ipoh-Rawang Double Track Rail electrification project;
• the development and financing of a 50MW solar photovoltaic plant in Malaysia;
• the divestment of the the largest multi fuel integrated power generating facility (2,420MW), with a transaction value of MYR4.2 billion;
• the delivery of electrical energy and telecommunications from a hydroelectric dam in Sarawak to Peninsular Malaysia by submarine power cables;

• the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Project;
• a 2,400MW hydroelectric dam in Sarawak;
• a 2,100 MW Coal-Fired Power Plant;
• the North-South Highway in Peninsular Malaysia;We have also advised on projects located in Australia, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Central Asia.

Recent Awards & Accolades

• Malaysian Law Firm Of The Year – Asian Legal Business Malaysia Law Awards 2016;
• West Malaysia Law Firm Of The Year – ALB Malaysia Law Awards 2017, 2018;
• National Law Firm Of The Year – International Financial Law Review Asia Awards, 2007, 2014;
• Islamic Finance Law Firm Of The Year – ALB Malaysia Law Awards 2016, 2017, 2018;
• Banking and Financial Services Law Firm of the Year – ALB Malaysia Law Awards 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018;
• Islamic Finance News (IFN) Law Awards 2018 – ESG, Green, SRI Law Firm of the Year; and
• IFN Deals of the Year Awards 2017 – Commodity Murabahah Deal of the Year 2017, Equity Deal Of The Year 2017, Structured Finance Deal Of The Year and Project & Infrastructure Deal Of The Year.