What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

One of the most significant would be the divestment of PTT’s coal mining business in Indonesia for approximately US$486m, as PTT sold shares in its subsidiaries to Astrindo Nusantara Infrastruktur. The transaction was closed in February 2023, and the divestment was aligned with PTT’s strategy towards sustainability and clean energy. Our in-house lawyers had worked alongside with PTT’s counsel, Clifford Chance, Singapore from the bidding stage through to closing.

How do you see the general counsel role evolving in Thailand over the next five to ten years?

There are so many new challenges. Local and global geopolitics, ESG, competition and disruption, and other uncontrollable new factors are unpredictable and unprecedented. All companies will require their GCs to come up with workable solutions now more than ever. Nonetheless, GCs need to make sure they properly balance and evaluate legal risks. This requires well-rounded experience alongside analytical and creative thinking.

Has your team started to utilise AI for your day-to-day work? If so, how useful have you found it?

We have started working on AI from 2022. Example of a quick-win project includes our OGC Chatbot which was implemented to share internal FAQs in layman’s terms. The next step will be creating standard fom agreements, precedents, and the like. This will help with speeding up work processes and contributing to time and cost savings while enabling the in-house legal team to focus on complicated issues and training.

Bio of Peangpanor Boonklum

Peangpanor Boonklum is a senior executive vice president and general counsel, Office of General Counsel at state-owned energy company PTT, managing her own team of 45 lawyers at the company. Her role includes advising the chief executives on strategic growth and acquisitions as well as reputation management, operating as a gatekeeper. She is a facilitator on subsidiary governance of the Thai Institute of Directors. Boonklum sits on the company’s Management Committee, and also serves as a director and on the Risk Management Committee at IRPC, a petrochemical flagship in PTT Group.

Prior to her current position from mid-2017, Boonklum was executive partner and senior counsel at Weerawong, Chinnavat & Partners (Formerly, White & Case (Thailand)). Her areas of expertise were capital markets and M&A. Boonklum obtained her bachelor’s degree in law and master’s degree in business law from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and master’s degree from Columbia University School of Law, United States.