Maples and Calder
is an international law firm, headquartered in the Cayman Islands. The international firm has more than 330 lawyers and 17 offices including Asia-Pacific offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. The Asia team collaborates with its lawyers based in the BVI, Cayman Islands, Dubai, London and Luxembourg offices with 18 partners based in the Hong Kong and Singapore offices.
Focusses / specialisms
The firm has expertise in corporate and finance and is particularly active in capital markets from pre-IPO financing to IPO, dual listings, special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) IPOs and follow-on offerings involving the Cayman Islands and BVI companies in particular involving securities exchanges in the US, Hong Kong and PRC.
The firm is also active in offshore funds and investment management, and actively serves clients in the TMT sector. The firm’s international dispute resolution and insolvency practice covers a wide variety of international commercial disputes, insolvencies and restructurings.
Key clients
Key clients of the firm include
51job, Ara Asset Management, Aquila Acquisition Corporation, Axiom Asia, Baring Private Equity Asia, Citigroup First Investment Management, CIFI Holdings (Group), Ginko International, MINISO Group Holding, PlayNitride and Zhihu.
Research period review:
33rd edition (2022/2023)
During the research period, the firm was active in handling transactions in corporate M&A, finance, investment funds, insolvency and restructuring space.
In the finance space, the firm was active in acquisition and leveraged financing, special situations financing, structured finance, aviation finance, private debt, capital markets, fund finance and derivatives.
In the caproate sector, the firm
continued to be active in advising SPAC deals with a high transaction recorded in Asia. In capital markets, the firm was very active in both IPOs and bond issuances. Most recently, the team has advised on the first ever Hong Kong SPAC IPO, Aquila Acquisition Corporation, as well as the first SPAC listing in Singapore, namely Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation.
In the private equity and investment funds space, the firm was busy advising leading private equity funds on their fund financing and Chinese companies and financial institutions on a range of corporate finance-related transactions.
In the restructuring space, the firm was involved in a wide variety of international commercial disputes, insolvencies and restructurings. The firm acted for the company on two of three Cayman Islands schemes of arrangement undertaken by PRC real estate companies during 2022.
Finance partner James Kinsley left the firm in 2023.
Deal highlights: 33rd edition (2022/2023)
$4.3 billion take-private of 51job.
Ginko International's $976.43 million take-private transaction.
GoGoX's HK$670 million HKEX IPO.
EQT's €6.8 billion acquisition of Hong Kong-based Baring Private Equity Asia.
Modern Land (China)’s $1.34 billion restructuring of its bondholder debt.
Client feedback: 33rd edition (2022/2023)
Investment funds
“Deep knowledge of the hedge fund market and clarity in communicating what they know.”
“They are responsive, commercial and knowledgeable about Cayman legal issues and the interplay between Cayman law and regulations in local Asian jurisdictions.”
Financial services regulatory
“The written advice provided by Maples was clear and very useful. All practical difficulties that we might encounter were clearly envisaged and laid out by Maples, leaving no stone unturned. Also, Maples is always very responsive to my queries.”
Lawyer feedback: 33rd edition (2022/2023)
Aisling Dwyer
“Very technically proficient. Highly organised and task-orientated. She has extremely good communication skills, is responsive and transparent.”
“Aisling is reliable, responsive and she gives clear and practical advice. Aisling has assisted me in various legal tasks over the years. Regardless of the size of the tasks, she is serious about your instructions and would put in her best effort to accomplish them.”
“She is extremely pragmatic, practical and knows her stuff. She is very organised and diligent and would have no hesitation going to her for any insolvency, restructuring and general commercial disputes work for Cayman Islands and BVI.”
Ann Ng
“Highly experienced in hedge funds and has a really commercial understanding of how hedge funds operate.”
Dan Won
“Dan is responsive and knowledgeable and, as a fluent Korean speaker and one of the very few at a Cayman law firm, he is uniquely positioned to advise my Korean private equity clients on Cayman law issues.”
Sharon Yap
“She is commercial, responsive and one of the most knowledgeable Cayman lawyers in the Asian market. She knows how my team and my client operate, and she has become my go-to partner for Cayman matters.”
