Announcement

Milbank Names Joe Bauerschmidt Counsel in Hong Kong Office

Appointment Strengthens Milbank’s Asian Capital Markets Practice

HONG KONG, February 28, 2005 – Continuing its leadership in the Asian corporate legal market, the international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP has announced that Joseph E. Bauerschmidt has joined the Hong Kong office as Counsel. The appointment continues Milbank’s strategy of expanding its presence in its key global practice areas.

Commenting on the appointment, Anthony Root, managing partner of Milbank’s Hong Kong office and head of the firm’s corporate practice in Asia, stated, “This is a significant opportunity for us to grow our capital markets practice with a highly-respected lawyer. Joe’s 13 years of global experience, including more than 50 SEC registered deals, complements our focus on and success in this area. With a solid Wall Street foundation, Joe has broadened his expertise with more than 7 years of Asian capital markets experience. We are delighted to have him.”

Prior to joining Milbank, Mr. Bauerschmidt was Counsel for Simpson Thacher in their Singapore and Hong Kong offices, where he led their efforts on several groundbreaking transactions in Asia, including Siam Commercial Bank’s recapitalization (1999), widely acclaimed as worldwide equity deal of the year, and Asia’s deal of the year for OCBC Bank (2001) and Fubon Financial (2002), as well as Thailand’s equity deal of the year for Krung Thai Bank (2003).

In addition to working with financial institutions and investment banks, drawing on his background in chemical engineering, Mr. Bauerschmidt has regularly represented oil and gas companies, power companies and technology-related issuers. His most recent deals include China’s latest NASDAQ listing, Hurray! Holding Co. Ltd., and Asia’s first NASDAQ listing by an internet company, Pacific Internet. Mr. Bauerschmidt began his legal career as an associate at Cravath Swaine & Moore in New York City, focusing on capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and syndicated corporate finance.

Mr. Bauerschmidt earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from University of Notre Dame Law School, where he was Executive Editor of the Law Review, and his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan. Prior to law school, Mr. Bauerschmidt was an engineer with Schlumberger Ltd. in North America and Europe.

MILBANK’S ASIAN PRACTICE:
Milbank has one of the deepest and broadest practices among U.S. firms in Asia. Its practices encompass capital markets, M&A and acquisition finance, private equity, project finance, restructuring, structured products transactions, leasing and transportation finance. Milbank currently has approximately 35 attorneys resident in its Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo offices, including attorneys qualified to practice New York or English law.

Milbank has been active in the region since the 1920s, and was one of the first international law firms to open offices in Asia. In 1977, Milbank was the first major Wall Street firm to open a Hong Kong office.

Milbank continues to be at the forefront of notable deals in Asia. From 2002-2004, Milbank’s Asian offices closed 94 transactions throughout Asia, with a total value of $33.5 billion. In recent years, Milbank’s Asian offices have participated in the largest Asian IPO in history, 6 of the 10 largest corporate debt offerings from Asia, the largest distressed debt deal in Asia and 8 of the 10 largest LBO’s completed in Asia.

As a testament to Milbank’s top tier position in Asia, Milbank and the deals it works on regularly receive awards, including Euromoney’s Project Finance Magazine’s “ASIA PACIFIC OIL & GAS INDEPENDENT DEAL OF THE YEAR” for 2004 for PearlOil. Milbank represented the lender, ANZ, on the landmark US$35 million borrowing base financing to PearlOil Holdings Ltd. The aggregation of the oil and gas fields in Indonesia and Thailand into a single borrowing base structure is the first of its kind in Asia. PearlOil Holdings is also among the nominees for Asian Legal Business’ (ALB) “PROJECT FINANCE DEAL OF THE YEAR”.

In addition, Milbank has been nominated for both Asian Legal Business’ (ALB) “INTERNATIONAL FIRM OF THE YEAR” and “ENERGY & NATURAL RESOURCES FIRM OF THE YEAR”. The firm has been involved in a number of Asian deals nominated for ALB “DEAL OF THE YEAR AWARDS” for 2004, including:

• “SE Asia Structured Finance & Securitisation Deal of the Year”: MGTI High Yield Offering, which has also been nominated for International Financial Law Review’s (IFLR) “Debt & Equity-Linked Deals of the Year”
  
  
• “Singapore M&A Deal of the Year”: Metalform LBO acquisition financing
  
  
• “Domestic Equity Deal of the Year”: StarHub IPO
  
  
• “Project Finance Deal of the Year”: Wayang Windu
  
  
• “Asset/corporate finance Deal of the Year”: CIT Tiger Airways
  
  
• “SE Asia Insolvency & Restructuring Deal of the Year”: United Tractors restructuring
  
  
• “SE Asia Insolvency & Restructuring Deal of the Year”: Fraport AG Nino Aquino (Manila) International Airport Terminal 3
  
  
• “International IPO Deal of the Year”: TOM Online IPO
  
  
• “Technology Deal of the Year”: TOM Online IPO

Consistent with its global leadership, Milbank was recently named “INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR” for 2004 by Legal Week, a leading legal industry publication, adding to its stature as recipient of one or more “FIRM OF THE YEAR” awards in various categories from International Financial Law Review (IFLR) for the past four consecutive years.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a premier global law firm headquartered in New York, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Palo Alto, London, Frankfurt and Munich. Milbank is a recognized leader in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and corporate finance, project finance, acquisition finance and other major fields of legal practice. Milbank provides English, German and U.S. law capabilities to its clientele, and provides a full range of services to many of the world’s leading financial, industrial and commercial enterprises, as well as governments, institutions and individuals.

JOE BAUERSCHMIDT
MILBANK, TWEED, HADLEY & MCCLOY LLP
3007 ALEXANDRA HOUSE
16 CHATER ROAD
CENTRAL, HONG KONG
T: 011-852-2971-4861
F: 011-852-2840-0792
jbauerschmidt@milbank.com