Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: TERADAT SANTIVIVUT/iStockphoto

Latham & Watkins, CMS, Ashurst and DLA Piper are the latest international firms to boost Southeast Asia practices.

Mergers and acquisitions partner Mark Cooper joins Latham & Watkins' Singapore office. He was most recently a partner at Hogan Lovells' office in the city-state, where he specializes in private equity transactions in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and across the rest of Southeast Asia. Last year he led a Singapore-based team working alongside Hogan Lovells' Paris team to represent European transport asset lessor Ermewa Group on an acquisition of Singapore's Raffles Lease Pte. Ltd.

Cooper joined Hogan Lovells in 2015 as a partner from Linklaters, where he had practiced for a decade in Hong Kong and London.

Sharon Lau, Latham's Singapore-based global corporate vice chair, said Cooper's arrival in Singapore is part of the firm's effort to build an integrated global infrastructure M&A practice.

"We expect this to be a core area of long-term growth for our clients, particularly in the 'crossover' space where infrastructure funds and traditional private equity funds are increasingly pursuing hybrid infrastructure assets in Asia and around the world," she said in a statement.

Meanwhile, CMS Holborn Asia, CMS's Singapore law alliance partner, has added an intellectual property partner in the city-state. Sheena Jacob arrives from Singaporean boutique JurisAsia, which operates in association with Anglo-Canadian firm Gowlings WLG. Jacob is experienced in managing patent and trademark portfolios for multinational corporations and advising on licensing and privacy law.

She joined JurisAsia in 2017 to lead the firm's IP and technology practice. Before that, she led the Singapore IP practice for Bird & Bird; she had practiced with the firm that is now Bird & Bird's Singapore office since 1994. At CMS, Jacob will work closely with the firm's Hong Kong-based IP head Jonathan Chu and Singapore-based life science partner Sarah Hanson.

Also in Singapore, Ashurst has recruited partner Danny Tan as the firm's Asia Pacific head of investment funds. Tan joins from top Singaporean firm Allen & Gledhill, where he led the private funds practice. He advises Singaporean and global fund managers, financial institutions and family offices on fund formation, investments and regulatory matters in Singapore. In 2018, he advised Singaporean infrastructure investor Surbana Jurong Capital on launching a $500 million Southeast Asia infrastructure development fund with Mitsubishi Corp.

Tan will work closely with Ashurst's funds partners Dean Moroz in Hong Kong, Con Tzerefos in Melbourne and Lisa Simmons in Sydney, according to the firm. "Singapore is one of the fastest-growing asset management hubs for private investments in Asia and it is an attractive location for global investment managers and investors, including sovereign wealth funds and pension funds," said Patrick Phua, Ashurst's Beijing-based head of Asia.

Ashurst operates in a formal law alliance with Singaporean firm ADTLaw.

Meanwhile, DLA Piper bolstered its Bangkok office with two new partners. Corporate partner Samata Masagee and finance partner Waranon Vanichprapa join from Weerawong, Chinnavat & Partners and Baker & McKenzie, respectively.

Masagee, who advises on cross-border M&As and restructuring, has been a partner at Weerawong since 2017, having first joined the firm in 2012. Before that, she practiced with Baker McKenzie in Thailand for seven years.

Vanichprapa represents Thai and international lenders and borrowers on various financing transactions in Thailand. He joined Baker McKenzie in 2015 from legacy Hunton & Williams, where he was counsel for four years. Before that, he practiced with Linklaters in Bangkok and Singapore and with Clifford Chance in London.

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