Herbert Smith Singapore has promoted Lewis McDonald to partnership and hired several associates in a major expansion strategy devised to cope with an influx of energy deals growing from Southeast Asia.

 “In terms of the deal pipeline, it’s looking very promising.  The growth of this team is a factor of the work we’ve been doing – and the work that we think is out there,”  said the firm's  head of energy Singapore, Richard Nelson .

 According to Nelson, oil & gas, power and clean energy sector deals are the practice areas that are heating up – with a growth surge in commodity trading work also expected.

 “The work we do is pretty much an even split between acquisitions and disposals of energy assets,” he said. The team had recently acted for BP on the sale of its operating interest in West Java; the Export-Import Bank of China on the project financing of a major new hydro power project in Cambodia; and for international natural gas company BG Group on the disposal of its power assets in the Philippines.

 “Singapore is a launch into Southeast Asia. We are working on deals across the region – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam – but we work closely with our Hong Kong office for greater China and our Tokyo energy team in terms of Japanese energy sector,” Nelson said.

Previously with Linklaters in the UK, Nelson joined Herbert Smith in July 2008 for the specific purpose of developing an energy practice in Singapore. “The firm had taken the view that Singapore was an important hub for the region and were prepared to invest in it and develop it,” he said. 

Nelson believes there is still potential for the Singapore practice group to grow in future, despite having reached ‘critical mass’ for now.

 New associates hired include senior associate Alex Moray, junior associate Vishal Devraj, Jessica Harris who joins in November 2010 from a top tier energy practice in Western Australia and Choongo Moonga who recently qualified from Herbert Smith's London office.

The team now comprises two partners and 6 associates.