Herbert Smith has announced that veteran corporate lawyer Michael Walter will be relocating from London to Singapore in July to take up the position of Southeast Asia managing partner, as present incumbent Austin Sweeney heads to Hong Kong.
Herbert Smith has announced that veteran corporate lawyer Michael Walter will be relocating from London to Singapore in July to take up the position of Southeast Asia managing partner, as present incumbent Austin Sweeney heads to Hong Kong.Walter, who has more than 30 years of experience in M&As, joint ventures, demergers and corporate reconstructions, privatisations and equity and debt offering work, will oversee teams based in Singapore, Bangkok and Jakarta.
“Our aim in Southeast Asia is to build on our strengths and develop our businesses across the region, including in growing markets such as Malaysia, Vietnam and Burma,” said Walter in an e-mail, adding that the firm anticipated increasing client demand in areas such as energy, mining and natural resources, projects and infrastructure, M&A, equity capital markets, and debt finance.
Walter said that his role would include a review of the firm’s existing offering to identify where it should be allocating greater resources. “This may include more opportunities for lateral hires and secondments across our office network, and further expansion via new Herbert Smith offices,” he added.
The global head of Herbert Smith’s corporate practice from 2005 to 2010, Walter has advised on deals like Bharti Airtel’s $10.7 billion acquisition Zain’s businesses in Africa. ALB
Ranajit Dam is Southeast Asia Editor at ALB. Follow him on Twitter: @RanajitDam_ALB.
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