Chandler MHM

The integration of Chandler & Thong-ek Law Offices (CTLO) with Japanese firm Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, announced in August 2016, is expected to strengthen CTLO’s stellar banking and finance practice led by Jessada Sawatdipong. The team, praised by a banking client for its “good quality of service and very practical and flexible”, benefits from its long-term relationships with Thailand’s largest commercial banks, including Bangkok Bank and Krungthai Bank, and multilateral institutions, such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), in loan syndication and project finance.  Sawatdipong and Supasit Boonsanong have been advising a large domestic chemical company on a complex $820 million joint venture financing. The multi-phased project involves not only financial issues but also construction, supply and offtake agreements.

Despite Thailand’s annual economic growth plunging from a high of 7.2% in 2012 to 2.8% in 2015, according to the ADB, the distinguished corporate/M&A practice at Chandler MHM, led by Niwes Phancharoenworakul and Ratana Poonsombudlert, maintained its strong performance. The team’s cross-border transactions in high value manufacturing, logistics, and technology, media and telecommunications, have buoyed the practice. Poonsombudlert advised Taiyo Nippon Sanso on its near-$70 million controlling share purchase of a Thai manufacturer. The team handled document preparation and negotiations with more than 100 individual shareholders, requiring lawyers to take a tailor-made approach.

The energy and natural resources team at Chandler & Thong-ek Law Offices has a stellar record in project finance and has significantly developed legal advice for Thailand’s renewable energy market. Practice head Jessada Sawatdipong, for instance, is handling a multi-million dollar refinancing of very small but innovative power producer projects. Specialising in cross-border projects in Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Nepal, the practice not only advises on large projects but also advises policy makers. Supasit Boonsanong advised the Petroleum Institute of Thailand on the Energy Regulatory Commission Law Reform Project, which focused on regulatory reforms to boost Thailand’s competitiveness in the natural gas market.

The project and infrastructure practice at Chandler & Thong-ek Law Offices, which is expected to complete its merger with Japanese firm Mori Hamada & Matsumoto by January 2017, is highly regarded not only for assisting developers with land acquisitions and rights of way but also for managing project financing with domestic and international project owners, sponsors and lenders. The team, led by Jessada Sawatdipong, an energy project financing specialist, handles relationships from Nepal to Malaysia in renewable energy, petroleum exploration and production, and petrochemical and refinery, in addition to some of Thailand’s largest water supply and distribution projects, such as Thai Tap Water Supply, a water producer and distributor in Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakorn.