Makarim & Taira S

The “responsive” Makarim & Taira S remains a highly recommended practice for strong project financing advice. The “responsible and responsive” Kurniawan Tanzil, team leader and leading lawyer, and Rahayu Hoed assisted an energy company with a $1.7 billion financing of the 1GB Jawa coal-fired power plant expansion project in West Java. The team managed many parties and structured the facility to give confidence to the lenders if a default or project termination happens. “Lina Amran is responsive and responsible to ensure we are well attended,” says a client.

Lina Amran leads the team at Makarim & Taira S. Maria Sagrado revised the subscription agreement between an Indonesian financial services company and Sentul City, an Indonesian real estate developer, which had issued notes. Sagrado also structured a syndicated loan from a group of German banks to Indo-Rama Synthetics, an Indonesian textile producer.

“We’ve selected [Makarim & Taira S] because of relatively good reputation and reasonable fee estimate for a merger filing in Indonesia,” says a client. “I love their timely responses and active services for the best interest of the client.” Lia Alizia and Ben Clanchy assisted in a merger notification to the KPPU about an acquisition involving a Brazilian steel manufacturing and business entity.

A client notes the team at Makarim & Taira S has “specialised knowledge in hospitality and real estate and an understanding of what international clients demand”. Commended by a client for “her construction contract expertise and her advice in handling disputes with contractors”, Rahayu Hoed, the practice head, shows versatility in advice on land acquisitions of industrial properties, such as power plants and office space. Another client adds: “They are acknowledged as one of the law firms in Indonesia that has good reputation for a long time, their specialist in insurance and construction business is appropriate with our need.”

The “reliable, practicable and goal-oriented” practice at Makarim & Taira S has experience in private-to-private and public-to-private M&A, and corporate reorganisations and restructurings. A client respects market-leading lawyer Rahayu Hoed, a team co-leader, for “her experience and ability to give sound and practical advice”. Ben Clanchy advised BASF on its acquisition of Chemetall, Albemarle’s surface treatment division. Another client adds: “The team provides technically sound and practical advice.” New partner Yohanes Masengi is “responsive and [provides] solution-based advice”, says a third client.

Makarim & Taira S’s strong practice excels in a number of areas, including hiring, performance management and termination, labour management relations, and dispute resolution and litigation. Leading lawyer Lia Alizia, a practice co-head, is advising an international resort chain on terminating employees, immigration and criminal charges against the client’s management. Alizia is also working with a large hotel chain on employees’ breach of a collective labour agreement due to alleged embezzlement. The employees are determined to get severance packages, while the client is unwilling to budge.

“Makarim & Taira S has an excellent projects and energy team that I feel comfortable working with on Indonesian local law matters when, for any reason, I cannot work with our own Indonesian team on certain projects,” says a peer. Clients praise practice co-heads Rahayu Hoed, who “commands authority” and Vincent Lie, who is “reliable, gives concise advice and [takes a] constructive approach to negotiation meetings. Rising star Yohanes Masengi is a partner to watch.