About

Joining in 2017, Banyan Tree Holdings’ general counsel Alex Liam is in charge of a legal department with global coverage across 28 countries and an estimated 11,000 employees, 48 hotels and 70 spas. The portfolio he manages is a challenging one, encompassing all major corporate transactions, intellectual property, data protection and litigation and dispute resolution. In the course of his legal career, Liam has developed a versatile and unique skillset. ‘My current position requires someone to be a reasonably competent adviser in multiple areas of law and not just one’, he explains. ‘Also, I often have to tackle problems that may involve both legal and extra-legal aspects. The focus is always about finding the balance between protecting the business and positioning it to grow’. From a transactional perspective, Liam has been deeply involved in spearheading a number of successful transactions, including a ‘sale of stake in an asset company in China for S$80m, a S$100m tender offer for a Thai subsidiary and a S$93m property sale in the Seychelles’. He has also been proactive at developing the legal awareness and resources of the company’s staff as a whole: ‘Besides the encouragement of technological innovation and professional development within the team, I have also introduced new standard operating procedures, issued alerts to hotel staff on common legal issues, ensured legal input is made a requirement on all major decisions and transactions and developed template agreements for internal use’. These achievements and more have been recognised, with Liam receiving a number of awards for his excellent work from the legal press. In his free time, he is also an active pro bono lawyer at legal clinics and serves on various committees of the Law Society of Singapore.