Lee & Li "is without a doubt the biggest and strongest law firm in Taiwan", says a client. "Lee & Li has the right balance between innovation and conservatism....
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Lee & Li "is without a doubt the biggest and strongest law firm in Taiwan", says a client. "Lee & Li has the right balance between innovation and conservatism." The firm's depth of knowledge and lawyer capacity is also appreciated by clients: "Lee & Li is quite knowledgeable at the different levels from partners down to junior lawyers," says one.
The firm consists some of the most highly regarded practitioners in Taiwan: Abe Sung. Sung is "very good commercially. very solution oriented" and "very knowledgeable with banking aspects", according to one client. Robin Chang is also recommended by peers.
Other outstanding practitioners include Sherry Lin, "a very talented practitioner" renowned for "her problem-solving ways for both public and private to make projects successful" according to a client, and Wong Pao Ling in the project finance team: "She is very experienced in government-related legal issues and quite familiar with public/private partnership", says another. "[Ling] thinks very proactively to try and solve issues under all legal constraints".
Last year a clear highlight saw the team advise eight prestigious Taiwanese financial institutions on the refinancing of two syndicated loans to Taiwan High Speed Rail. In this transaction, the Bank of Taiwan acted as the facility agent for the NT$382 billion ($13 billion) syndicated loan, marking it the largest syndicated loan in the history of Taiwan.
Taiwan's high speed rail project is itself one of the world largest BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects and the firm had to tackle various contract issues between Taiwan High Speed Rail and the government authority as part of the refinancing process.
The capital markets team meanwhile advised Hon Hai Precision Industry, one of the world's largest manufacturers of electronic components, on the offering of convertible bonds on the Singapore Exchange Securities. The $1billion zero coupon convertible bonds due 2013 had Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered acting as the book-runners.
Another notable highlight for the M&A team advising MBK Partners in an agreement with Wang Chung Broadband Media to sell the shares of China Network Systems and 11 cable system operators in Taiwan for a cash consideration of $2.4 billion.
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