About

‘Highly competent and technical’ in the view of the law firms she instructs, Sok Theng Cheng is acclaimed both for her skills as a lawyer and for her management of Morgan Stanley’s legal function. ‘She is absolutely outstanding,’ says a colleague. ‘Emerging markets are very challenging because the systems are so different. In our industry not many women climb the ladder and as a mother of three children, she is also a tremendous example of balancing work and a family’. Fluent in Malay, Bahasa Indonesia and Mandarin, Cheng co-chairs Morgan Stanley’s Singaporean Women Business Network, and plays a pivotal role in the region’s legal and operational functions. She established Morgan Stanley’s Indonesian business, set up its Singaporean branch for its wealth management arm and worked on the group’s acquisition of an exchange membership on IDX. Active in capital markets, mergers & acquisitions, trading, derivatives and private wealth management, her most prominent recent deals include BTS Infrastructure Fund’s Thai IPO; ThaiBev/TCC’s takeover of F&N; and Felda Global Ventures’ Malaysian IPO. A Cambridge graduate, she practised at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP’s London office for eight years, before joining Morgan Stanley, London in 2006 and relocating to Singapore in 2008.