Rajah & Tann Thailand has strengthened its shipping and insurance practice groups by hiring a team of lawyers from Chandler MHM led by Ittirote Klinboon, who joins as a partner.

Thailand’s Chandler MHM had welcomed capital markets expert Doungporn Prasertsomsuk as a partner and co-head of its capital markets practice from A&O Shearman, where she was a counsel.

​​​​​​​Even as macroeconomic headwinds curtailed dealmaking enthusiasm in other major Asian markets, Thailand saw steady growth in M&A activity in 2022, spearheaded by the telecom sector. Now, with the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic receding, lawyers say that the Thai M&A landscape is expected to receive a boost as companies seek inorganic growth through acquisitions.

Almost two decades from the first introduction of the concept of environmental, social and governance (ESG), ESG issues have now become one of the core values of not only project owners, but also financial institutions across the globe. In considering, whether to finance the development of a project, financial institutions normally scrutinize a project from various perspectives to ensure the project’s viability and, if required, impose measures to be implemented by the project in order to minimize the negative impacts of the project on the surrounding environment. In this connection, it is helpful that financial institutions have internationally recognized guidelines to refer to.

Thailand’s first data privacy law, the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) (“PDPA”) has been temporarily postponed until 31 May 2021. Assuming that there is no further postponement, the PDPA will become largely enforceable on 1 June 2021.

Following the Cabinet’s approval on 14 January 2020, a new state enterprise, National Telecom Public Company Limited or “NT”, was formed on 7 January 2021 by a merger of CAT Telecom Public Company Limited (“CAT”) and TOT Public Company Limited (“TOT”). NT has assets worth over THB300 billion in value including over 25,000 telecommunication towers nationwide, spectrum usages, underwater cables, radio frequency, underground conduits, fiber optic cables, 13 data centres across the nation and international telecommunications infrastructure, with more than 17,000 employees.

Thailand’s Chandler MHM has advised Phu Yen TTP Joint Stock Company (Phu Yen JSC) on a $186 million loan to develop and operate a 257MW solar power plant in Hoa Hoi, Phu Yen Province, Vietnam, with Clifford Chance representing the lenders.

Jessada Sawatdipong, joint managing partner of Thailand’s Chandler MHM, talks about running a firm with lawyers and staff from diverse backgrounds and cultures, keeping up with the expectations of clients, and why it’s important to be an employer of choice.  

In May 2019, Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) officially became law. Echoing General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) somewhat, the PDPA regulates personal data collection, storage and dissemination. But while further regulatory developments are required to ensure the law can be fully implemented, businesses should be seeking out legal help to ensure they are compliant now — and not dragging their heels — say lawyers.

Thai law firm Chandler MHM has hired veteran lawyer Chatchai Inthasuwan in Bangkok as a senior partner and head of its dispute resolution practice from DLA Piper, where he held a similar role.