Use a checklist!
Being meticulous is an important skill for an equity capital markets (“ECM”) lawyer to have. ECM exercise is typically fast-paced and deadlines driven. It requires co-ordination among the due diligence working group members (“DDWG”) as draft documents may be prepared by a DDWG member and commented by the rest of …
Professional relationship doesn’t have to be transactional
During the early stage of the Covid pandemic, when Malaysia was under movement control order, I received a Whatsapp message from a number not saved on my phone. At that time, I had just lost most of my contact numbers after accidentally dropping my old phone and I had to …
Key issues to consider for a term sheet for joint venture
1. Parties Who are the parties to the joint venture? 2. Objective What is the objective of the joint venture? What business is the joint venture undertaking? 3. Structure What form/legal entity is the joint venture? 4. Shareholding What is the shareholding proportion of each party? What class of shares …
Limited voting rights of preference shares
Preference share, by definition under the Companies Act 2016 (“𝐂𝐀 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔”) of Malaysia, does not entitle the holder to the right to vote on a resolution. See sections 2(1) and 71(1) of the CA 2016 . Under section 148(2) of the repealed Companies Act 1965, preference shareholders may vote: *when …
Teamwork
“I don’t think it’s that simple. Go and read this book. Rethink your answer,” I told my colleague after reading her draft reply to a client’s question for a corporate exercise. The question touched on procedural matters under company law. There are cases on interpretation of the relevant section under …
Legal due diligence: Spotting errors with common sense
In legal due diligence exercise, it is easy to get lost in all the details, especially when there are urgent deadlines and voluminous documents to be reviewed. Some errors in legal due diligence reports are obvious when you take a step back and apply common sense. It doesn’t make sense …
Legal due diligence: Is it high, medium or low risk?
The most difficult part of legal due diligence when I started out as a corporate lawyer was not the voluminous review of documents and preparation of reports. The most difficult part was to rate the risks relating to the issues identified during the legal due diligence exercise. Some clients or …
What does “success” mean to you?
“Don’t forget me when you are successful,” I jokingly told my friend after sharing my experience of being a partner of a law firm upon my friend’s request. “Define ‘success’,” my friend said. I paused for a moment and thought about what success would mean to me. My reply: To …
Spotting inconsistencies in legal due diligence
Part of legal due diligence includes spotting inconsistencies in the information provided for legal due diligence. *** For example, the representative of the target company replied that the company does not have any employee in response to questions in the due diligence questionnaire about employment. However, there is information about …
M&A due diligence: Charge over shares
One of the objectives in M&A due diligence is to ascertain that the seller has good title to the seller’s shares in the target company. This include verifying whether any charges or encumbrances have been created over those shares. Three ways to do this: 1. Include questions in the legal …