Julian Kwek

Julian co-heads our Indonesia Desk and Corporate Restructuring & Workouts Practice. He focuses on cross-border mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, debt workouts, and corporate restructuring. Julian has been consistently ranked as a leading individual in his field for many years by leading legal publications.

In Indonesia, Julian advises foreign investors and Indonesian groups divesting equity or entering into joint ventures with foreign investors. He also advises high net-worth individuals and families in Indonesia particularly after the Tax Amnesty in Indonesia and the adoption of Automatic Exchange of Information pursuant to Common Reporting Standard.

Julian has been covering Indonesia since 2000, and he has been involved in many mining projects in Indonesia. On average, Julian makes about 15 to 20 trips a year to Indonesia.

On the debt workouts and corporate restructuring front, Julian and his team have advised on most of the largest workouts in Indonesia and also on most of the defaults involving PRC companies listed in Singapore.

Over many years, Julian has developed close working relationships with several State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) in the People’s Republic of China. He has advised many PRC SOE and PRC private enterprises over the last 20 years and some of them on a retainer basis.

LL.B. (Hons), University of Wales College of Cardiff; Called to Bar of England & Wales, Middle Temple; Admitted to the Singapore Bar

Julian has been covering Indonesia since 2000, and he has been involved in many mining projects in Indonesia.

On the debt workouts and corporate restructuring front, Julian and his team have advised on most of the largest workouts in Indonesia and also on most of the defaults involving PRC companies listed in Singapore.

Over many years, Julian has developed close working relationships with several State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) in the People’s Republic of China. He has advised many PRC SOE and PRC private enterprises over the last 20 years and some of them on a retainer basis.

• Member, Law Society of Singapore

• Member, Singapore Academy of Law

• Member, The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple

• Honorary Secretary, Workforce Advancement Federation

Julian’s recent transactional experience includes:

Corporate/M&A

• Advised Metro Holdings Limited in its S$200 million joint venture with PT. Trans Corpora in the development, marketing and sales of five 32-storey residential towers in Bekasi, Jakarta Indonesia.

• Advised Metro Holdings Limited in its S$150 million joint venture with PT. Trans Corpora in the development, marketing and sales of various residential towers in Bintaro, Jakarta Indonesia.

• Advised COSCO Shipping International (Singapore) Co., Ltd. in relation to its S$488.07 million cash buyout of logistics firm Cogent Holdings Limited.

• Advised CVC on the restructuring of its investment, through Asia Color Company Limited, in PT Matahari Department Store Tbk (Matahari) with PT Multipolar Tbk and PT Matahari Pacific, and the subsequent public offering of a 40% stake in Matahari that raised approximately US$1.36 billion.

• Advised SATS Ltd in its acquisition of 41.65% of PT Cardig Aero Services Tbk for approximately S$118.3 million.

• Advised F J Benjamin Group and PT Sukses Mitra Persada on their alliance with Saratoga in respect to FJB’s Indonesian retail business. This involved advising on a shareholders agreement and the sale of 25% of both the equity and existing debt instruments of the Indonesian retail business at a valuation of US$120.8 million on a fully diluted basis.

• Advised CapitaLand Limited (CapitaLand) in its joint venture with the Credo Group to develop an integrated development in Central Jakarta, Indonesia. The total development cost is approximately S$220 million. This was CapitaLand’s first integrated development into Indonesia.

• Advised the Dombas Mas Group on the sale of its oleochemical plants to Bakrie Sumatera Plantations. The sale required the restructuring of debt in excess of US$800 million held by various financial institutions, and a US$2 billion off-take arrangement with Proctor & Gamble.

• Advised on the sale and acquisition of various palm oil plantations.

• Advised a leading Singapore retailer in the share restructuring of its Indonesian retail operations. The Indonesian retail operations are set up as a joint venture with two other Indonesian conglomerates.

• Advising on the restructuring and acquisition of a substantial stake in a privately-held Indonesian pharmaceutical group and the subsequent joint venture between the foreign investor and the original Indonesian shareholders.

• Advising on the restructuring and acquisition of a substantial stake in a privately-held Indonesian packaging group and the subsequent joint venture between the foreign investor and the original Indonesian shareholders.

• Advising certain foreign and Indonesian parties on the establishment and development of a hotel group in Indonesia.

• Advised various Singapore parties in their multi-million dollar acquisition of the entire share capital of an Indonesian company involved in the paper & pulp industry. Subsequent to the completion of the acquisition, Drew & Napier also advised on the restructuring of debt obligations in excess of USS100 million.

• Advised on the joint venture between a major Japanese airline and its Indonesian counterpart.

• Advised one of the largest Indonesian travel operators on its corporate expansion and development of new business including the raising of venture capital.

• Advising an Indonesian state-owned financial institution on its divestment and expansion exercise involving foreign financial institutions.

• Advised one of the largest Indonesian public-listed cable television companies with respect to an investment by major private equity fund.

Mining/Natural Resources

• Advised BGP CNPC, a Singapore subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, the largest PRC State-Owned Enterprises oil major, with respect to its investments and projects in China since 2014.

• Advised BGP CNPC in a US$150 million ship-building investment in relation to the restructuring of certain existing obligations and a tender award for the construction of a seismic survey vessel valued at US$86 million by a South Korean shipyard. Julian was the coordinating counsel for the tender process which involved shipyards from various countries, and was responsible for negotiating and drafting the final documentation for the restructuring and the construction of the seismic survey vessel.

• Advised a BGP CNPC in an oil exploration, development and production project in East Africa. Julian was the coordinating counsel and was responsible for structuring the deal and for negotiating the various agreements such as the Memorandum of Understanding and shareholders’ agreement.

• Acted for BGP Geoexplorer Pte Ltd, a Singapore subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, in a high profile debt recovery proceeding against companies owned by Clive Palmer, a former Australian politician. BGP was awarded judgment in the sum of US$17 million.

• Acted for an Indonesia mining company on its buy-back of a 30% stake from Sojitz Corporation.

• Acted for an offshore entity in relation to its acquisition of an interest in a South Natuna Gas Field and the refinancing of the bank credit facilities.

• Advised Resources Prima Group Ltd, a Catalist listed company on issues relating to its coal concession held through PT Rinjani Kartanegara and the subsequent potential RTO of another coal concession and another nickel concession.

• Advised a major Indonesian coal producing group, in respect of various energy related projects in East Kalimantan.

• Advised on the acquisition and disposal of various mining concessions in Indonesia

• Advised on various exclusive off-take agreements, royalty agreements, joint operation agreements with respect to mining concessions.

• Advised on various mineral trading agreements with respect to the sale and supply of minerals aggregating millions of tones from Indonesia.

Debt Work-Outs & Corporate Restructuring

• Advised the Asia Pulp & Paper group of companies (APP Group) in relation to its US$14 billion debt work-out and corporate restructuring of. The APP Group is one of the largest pulp and paper manufacturers in the world. Its primary operating companies are based in China and Indonesia, and it has more than 250 subsidiaries worldwide. The APP Group’s debt securities are registered primarily with the New York SEC and its equity securities are quoted on the Singapore, Jakarta and Surabaya exchanges.

• Advising and assisting the board of directors of Ezra Holdings Limited to discharge their duties in respect of the Ezra Group’s effort to restructure its debt obligations and corporate transactions in the challenging operating environment in the oil & gas industry. The Ezra Group includes the Triyards Limited and Emas Offshore Limited group of companies, which are all listed on the mainboard of the SGX-ST. On 18 March 2017, Ezra Holdings Limited and certain of its subsidiaries filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Ezra Holdings Limited has guaranteed the financial obligations of the Ezra Group, including approximately US$0.4 billion of charter hire liabilities in connection with vessels chartered by EMAS Chiyoda Subsea Limited and its subsidiaries (ECS Group), approximately US$0.5 billion of loans owing by the ECS Group and substantial, but not quantifiable contingent liabilities in relation to performance and/or bank guarantees granted by and/or procured by Ezra Holdings Limited for projects undertaken by the ECS Group.