About

Norwegian-headquartered international certification body and classification society DNV GL has recently undertaken a significant global restructure process that required an understanding of local laws across several countries. In his role as regional head of DNV GL’s group legal function in Asia Pacific, Dag Ove Solsvik helped the company achieve its desired legal and commercial outcomes in the face of rapid changes to the industries and markets it covers in the region. Utilising his deep knowledge and skills with regards to corporate law, intellectual property, tax, employment and industrial and property issues, Solsvik was, in the words of a nominating lawyer, ‘able to provide the excellent leadership and guidance to his staff (and external counsel) needed in order to facilitate the project and achieve the required outcomes from the board’. The transaction spanned many jurisdictions and required DNV GL’s legal team to deal with local subsidiaries in many countries while having to ‘drill down in several aspects of the law’. Solsvik was praised for his provision of ‘clear and specific instructions to his team and external lawyers’, in addition to his delegation skills and communication skills with the board, ‘[balancing] the communication at both ends very well whilst also remaining integral to the project to ensure the success of the global restructure’. Following DNV’s acquisition of GL in 2013 and the subsequent merger of those companies and their group structure, Solsvik has completed key work in streamlining the legal structure and implementing the global merger in the local countries on a legal entity level. The team had to face challenges across several countries (Australia, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam in particular) and managed to complete all work in just 6 months. This was largely down to good planning and deep understanding of the challenges in the various countries displayed by Solsvik and his team. Solsvik qualified in Norway and has previously served as a deputy judge in his home country. He joined DNV Group in 2011, working at its Oslo headquarters as corporate counsel before moving to Shanghai in 2013 as head of Asia group legal. He moved to Singapore in 2016.