US law firm Morrison & Foerster has hired M&A specialists Jake Robson and Adam Summerly as partners to expand its recently opened Singapore office.
Both join from the Singapore office of Norton Rose Fulbright and are experienced advisers on M&A, private equity, cross-border investment and joint ventures. Robson has been based in Singapore for eight years, primarily advising clients in the banking, insurance, natural resources, commodities and telecoms industries. He also handles capital markets transactions representing issuers and underwriters in public securities offerings.
Summerly has been in advising clients in Singapore for 14 years on a wide range of corporate transactions, primarily in the infrastructure, transportation, natural resources, telecommunications and oil and gas sectors.
Morrison & Foerster opened its Singapore office, the firm’s fifth in Asia, earlier this year to support clients’ deepening commitments to South and Southeast Asia, according to Eric Piesner, Singapore managing partner and firmwide managing partner for Asia.
“As more multinational companies expand in the region, Singapore has continued to grow as a key financial and economic centre,” said Piesner. “The surge of corporate deal-making in South and Southeast Asia has created a significant demand for high-quality legal services.”
Morrison & Foerster has a strong presence throughout the region. It is the biggest international law firm in Japan and has with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, in addition to Singapore.
Recent deals include advising Singapore-based Global Logistics Properties in two joint venture acquisitions of multi-property warehouse portfolios in Japan and Brazil, valued at about $3 billion. It also represented SoftBank in its $21.6 billion investment in Sprint Nextel, advised Shanghai-based Fosun International in the $3.5 billion Focus Media take-private.
