James Grandolfo, partner at Milbank LLP and managing partner of Milbank (Hong Kong) LLP, co-chaired the 9th edition of Practising Law Institute's Annual Institute on Corporate & Securities Law in Asia on September 25-26. Mr. Grandolfo, who has acted as co-chair since the inception of the institute, served alongside co-chairs Sharon Lau of Latham & Watkins and Yvette Rodriguez of Deutsche Bank.
The two-day event explored key developments shaping Asia's corporate and securities landscape. Topics included M&A market drivers, the growing impact of AI on legal practice, regulatory developments in South and Southeast Asia, and US regulatory activities affecting Asian markets. The program also examined current trends in private credit and direct lending, as well as corporate disputes across Asian jurisdictions.
Davide Mencacci, head of Milbank's Leveraged Finance practice in Asia, moderated a session titled "Financing Mergers & Acquisitions in Asia." Mr. Mencacci was joined by Sunny Leung, head of the legal team for global lending at Standard Chartered; Pramath Verma, co-head of leveraged finance and private financing at Nomura; and Vikram Lamba, managing director and co-head of Asia Pacific Leveraged Finance and Acquisition Syndicated Finance at HSBC. The panel explored current trends in financing M&A across Asia, covering risk management, transfer restrictions, voting thresholds, security structures, financial covenants and the growing influence of private credit in the region.
Mr. Grandolfo, in addition to his co-chair duties, moderated a session with former long-time head of the SEC's Division of International Corporate Finance and now Latham & Watkins partner Paul Dudek titled "US Regulatory Developments Impacting Asia." This session covered various regulatory developments from the SEC including proposed changes to the definition of "Foreign Private Issuer," the SEC's new Reg Flex agenda and the SEC's recent comments on China-based companies, among others.
The two-day event also covered topics such as "Recent Trends in South and Southeast Asia Capital Markets," "M&A Trends in Asia," "Private Credit and Direct Lending in Asia" and "Trends in Disputes Across Asia." The event brought together experts from governments, corporations, banks, academic institutions and private law firms to discuss the latest insights into issues facing corporate and securities law practitioners in Asia with more than 150 people in attendance.
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