Emir Nurmansyah

Practice Areas

Client testimonials (quoted from Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2022 ed.)

‘Emir Nurmansyah is very approachable and professional. He is someone who will address all your questions no matter how trivial they are.’

‘Emir Nurmansyah stands out for his responsiveness, availability and knowledge.’

‘Emir Nurmansyah and his team are trusted advisors who do not cut corners but find commercial solutions.’

‘Emir Nurmansyah is in a league of his own as a provider of legal services in Indonesia banking law.’

A senior partner at ABNR and member of the firm’s management board, Emir is one of the most respected and versatile lawyers in Indonesia today. After some 30 years in legal practice, he is a market-leading lawyer for project finance & development, banking & finance, corporate / mergers & acquisitions (M&A), and foreign direct investment (FDI). He also offers extensive experience and expertise in restructuring & insolvency, shipping, aviation and technology, media & telecommunications (TMT).

His long list of awards and recognitions include:

• An Asian Legal Business (ALB)’s “Dealmaker of Asia 2022”

• “Indonesia Deal Maker of the Year” for an unprecedented two years in a row at the prestigious ALB Indonesia Law Awards (2018 and 2019),

• “Managing Partner of the Year” at the 2020 ALB Indonesia Law Awards

• ALB “2020 Southeast Asia Dealmaker of the Year”

He is listed in Who’s Who Legal for (i) Project Finance (one of only 7 Indonesian lawyers listed); and (ii) Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions (one of only 4 Indonesian lawyers listed). In addition, he is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers Asia Pacific for Banking & Finance and Projects & Energy, and in Band 2 for Corp/M&A, and is lauded by Legal 500 Asia Pacific as a “Leading Individual” for Aviation, Banking & Finance, Projects & Energy and Shipping.

As head of ABNR’s project finance & development practice, Emir has been involved in most of the major power projects developed in Indonesia in recent years, including the USD 1.74-billion, 1000 MW Cirebon Expansion Project; the USD 3-billion, 2000 MW Java 9&10 project; and the USD 2.7-billion, 2 x 660 MW Tanjung Jati A project.

He is currently working on the recently initiated USD 413-million Peusangan 4 Hydro Peaker Power Plant and the USD 413 million Siborpa Hydro Power Plant, and continues to act for the project company in the Semangka hydro project, and the lenders to the Wampu hydro project and the Asahan hydro project.

In other infrastructure sectors, Emir headed the ABNR team that advised a consortium of domestic and international lenders on the USD 1.846-billion “Trustee Borrowing Scheme Financing” provided to PT Pertamina EP Cepu (a wholly owned subsidiary of Indonesia’s state energy company, PT Pertamina Persero) for the development of the Jambaran-Tiung Biru gas project -- the financing consisted of a USD 1,746,400,000 conventional facility and USD 100,000,000 Shariah-based Wakala facility.

Emir is also the head of our banking & finance practice, where he advises on offshore and onshore financings, including domestic and cross-border syndicated, consortium and bilateral lending transactions, security arrangements, leveraged and acquisition finance, registration and enforcement of loans and security in Indonesia and overseas jurisdictions, loan restructuring, and the sale and purchase of loans.

He offers particular experience and expertise in the highly specialized and complex area of marine financing, where he recently advised a syndicate of India-based banks on their USD 400-million Term Loan Facility to an Indonesian oil and gas services company to refinance the purchase of a Floating Production Storage and Offloading / FPSO unit; and a syndicate of international banks on their USD 250 million loan for the procurement of a powership to be deployed in Indonesia.

In M&A, he assisted General Electric Company with the Indonesian aspects of the USD 6 billion global sale of their water processing technology and industrial technology solutions businesses. Prior to that, he acted for Uber for the Indonesian aspects of the merger of their Southeast Asia operations with those of Singapore-based ride hailing company Grab Inc. (largest deal ever of its kind in the region) and Global Infrastructure Partners on all Indonesian aspects of their USD 5 billion acquisition of Equis Energy (largest renewable energy deal ever).

In FDI, he assisted Hyundai Motor Company with its development of a USD 800-million Southeast Asian manufacturing hub in Indonesia, and Pegatron Corporation, a Taiwan-based assembler of Apple iPhones, with their establishment of their USD 300-million iPhone manufacturing operation in Batam province.

In restructuring & insolvency, Emir led the ABNR team representing some 30 of the world’s biggest aircraft and engine lessors and manufacturers, and other aviation-related vendors, in the USD 9.8-billion court-sanctioned debt restructuring of Indonesian flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (approved June 2022). This was the largest court-sanctioned restructuring in Indonesia’s history in terms of value of assets and number of creditors, and one of the largest ever in the Southeast Asia region.

Prior to Garuda, Emir acted for a number of oil and gas service providers in the recently USD 412-million debt restructuring of PT Apexindo Pratama Duta, one of Indonesia’s biggest oil and gas drilling companies.

Previously, he headed the ABNR team that acted for China Development Bank (one of the largest creditors at USD 600 million) in the USD 4.5-billion Bumi Resources global debt restructuring, the largest such deal in Southeast Asia at the time and one of the most complex deals of its kind ever in the region – the team also represented two other creditors, Madison Pacific Trust Ltd and Pathfinder Strategic Credit LP, during the debt moratorium process (PKPU) in the Indonesian Commercial Court.

He was also counsel to a major Japanese integrated trading and investment conglomerate in the approx. USD 2-billion debt restructuring of PT Asmin Koalindo Tuhup, and acted for various vessel lessors’ creditors and shipowner entities in the USD 2-billion Indonesian court-sanctioned debt restructuring of PT Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk, one of the longest and most complicated court-sanctioned restructuring processes ever in Indonesia.

In shipping, he advises ship owners, operators and charterers; marine insurers and reinsurers (including P&I insurers, and hull and machinery underwriters); freight forwarders and other shipping agents; cargo interests; and lending banks and other financial institutions. His expertise extends to all areas of shipping law, including cabotage, ship registration, ship financing and security enforcement; ship mortgages, charges and securitization; oil, gas and mineral ore transportation, and marine insurance

Emir is also a market-leading lawyer for aviation - he recently represented the lenders (BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, and Societe Generale) in a military aircraft financing to the Indonesian government for the purchase of six Rafale military aircraft from France's Dassault Aviation, the first part of a bigger deal to bring in 42 aircraft over the next few years. Other aviation mandates in recent years include advising BNP Paribas on the Indonesian aspects of their USD 100 million loan to Ireland-based Wafu Aviation Designated Activity Company to partly refinance its acquisition of 5 aircraft; Waypoint Leasing (an Ireland-based helicopter leasing company) on the Indonesian aspects of the sale of of four helicopters following Waypoint’s filing for bankruptcy protection; Marathon Aviation Fund, LP on the Indonesian aspects of the purchase, novation and financing of aircraft from Aircastle; and BNP Paribas Group and ING for the Indonesian aspects of the refinancing by an Irish borrower (a subsidiary of ICBCIL Aviation Co., Ltd) of a number of aircraft.

In the TMT arena, Emir’s clients comprise many of the world’s leading technology and social-media companies, including China-based internet technology giant ByteDance and its subsidiary TikTok; China-based Tencent (the world's largest internet services companies); and a number of leading U.S.-based tech and social-media companies and their subsidiaries in various jurisdictions around the world. He also regularly advises fintech, e-commerce and e-travel companies on regulatory & compliance and strategic issues related to their projects in Indonesia.

Emir holds a law degree from the University of Indonesia and an LL.M in international transactions from Bond University, Australia.