Hoon Chi Tern is the Deputy Head of Rajah & Tann Singapore’s Mergers & Acquisitions Practice, and a Partner in the Capital Markets Practice.
He has substantial experience in a wide range of notable corporate transactions, including public and private mergers & acquisitions, private equity investments and buyouts, local and international initial public offerings, secondary listings and fund-raising, as well as privatisations. He also regularly advises SGX-ST listed issuers on continuing obligations and compliance matters.
In addition to being recognised as a leading capital markets lawyer, Chi Tern has been recommended for Capital Markets by Who’s Who Legal (2024) and is the sole recipient in Singapore for the Capital Markets category in Lexology’s Client Choice Awards (2024-2026). Lauded for being “experienced, sharp, efficient“, he is also endorsed by IFLR1000 (2024) as a Notable Practitioner for his work in Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions.
Described as a “standout lawyer”, clients have also commended him for his “innovative approach, clear articulation of legal options and permutations and the ability to put these options into a commercial perspective”.
Prior to obtaining his BCL from the University of Oxford in 2009, Chi Tern graduated with his LLB. from the University of Nottingham in 2008 where he won the Lovell’s prize for Commercial Law.
EXPERIENCE
Private M&A / Private Equity
- Acted for Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited in the combination of Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, to form Seatrium Limited, which is listed on the SGX-ST.
- Acted for OCBC Bank and its insurance arm Great Eastern Holdings Limited in a deal involving the S$3.8 billion sale by the group and the Lee family of their stakes in Fraser & Neave, Limited and Asia Pacific Breweries Limited to Thai Beverage and an affiliate of Thai Beverage.
- Acted for Zepto, a leading Indian quick-commerce player, in connection with a first of its kind cross-border amalgamation between a Singapore and Indian entity.
- Acted in the sale of a majority interest in Viz Branz to Asia Food Growth Fund, a fund managed by Investcorp
- Acted for the Founder of Wang Learning Centre Pte. Ltd. in respect of Sun Venture’s investment in Wang Learning Centre, one of Singapore’s largest private education centres with over 10,000 students.
- Acted for WEO Corporation Pte. Ltd. in relation to an investment by Nano Focus Holdings Ltd., an affiliate of Dymon Asia Private Equity (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., the private equity arm of Dymon Asia Capital.
- Acted for Ergo (Munich Re’s primary arm), in the acquisition of SHC Insurance
- Acted for RHT Health Trust in the INR47 billion (approximately S$900 million) disposal of its entire asset portfolio of clinical establishments and hospitals in India to Fortis Healthcare Limited.
- Acted as transaction counsel to Colliers International in its acquisition of a controlling interest in Bangalore based Synergy Property Development Services Private Limited.
- Acted for Heliconia Capital Management Pte. Ltd. in various investments in the education, technology, F&B and healthcare sectors.
- Advised Legend Logistics Limited in the sale of the Legend Global Group to DP World Logistics FZE.
Public M&A
- Acted in the cash offers / privatisations in respect of SGX-ST listed Koufu Group Limited, Poh Tiong Choon Logistics Limited, Guthrie GTS Limited, Asian Healthcare Specialists Limited, Li Heng Chemical Fibre Technologies Limited, Pteris Global Limited, China Minzhong Food Corporation Limited, IPC Corporation Limited, People’s Food Holdings Limited, Lafe Corporation Limited.
- Acted for SunEdison Semiconductor Limited, a Singapore company listed on the NASDAQ in the United States in the acquisition of SunEdison SemiConductor Limited by GlobalWafers Co., Ltd., by way of a scheme of arrangement.
Capital Markets
- Acted for Koufu Group Limited in respect of its initial public offering and listing on the Mainboard of the SGX-ST. Koufu’s market capitalisation at the time of its listing was approximately S$350 million.
- Acted for Kimly Limited in respect of its initial public offering and listing on Catalist, the sponsor-supervised listing platform of the SGX-ST. The market capitalisation of Kimly at listing was S$290 million.
- Acted for Top Glove Corporation Bhd in its secondary listing by way of introduction on the Main Board of the SGX-ST. The market capitalisation at the time of Top Glove’s lising was approximately S$2.0 billion.
- Acted for Japfa Ltd in respect of its initial public offering and listing on the Main Board of the SGX-ST. The market capitalisation of Japfa Ltd at listing was S$1.38 billion. Japfa Ltd is the first industrialised agri-food company focused on protein foods to list in Singapore.
- Acted for China Jinjiang Environment Holding Company Limited in respect of its initial public offering and listing on the Main Board of the SGX-ST. The market capitalisation of Jinjiang Environment at listing was S$1.08 billion. Jinjiang Environment is the largest private waste-to-energy operator in the China.
- Acted for Religare Health Trust Trustee Manager Pte. Ltd. and Fortis Healthcare Limited in connection with the listing of RHT Health Trust, a business trust comprising healthcare assets on the Main Board of the SGX-ST. RHT had a market capitalisation of S$709.3 million and was the first business trust comprising healthcare assets in India to be listed on the SGX-ST
- Acted for Citigroup Global Markets Singapore Pte. Ltd. and Daiwa Capital Markets Singapore Limited, the joint global coordinators, bookrunners, issue managers and underwriters in respect of the S$759 million offering and listing of units in Accordia Golf Trust on the Main Board of the SGX-ST in August 2014. Accordia Golf Trust was the first business trust with an initial portfolio comprising investments in golf course assets in Japan to be listed on the SGX-ST.
- Acted for Lum Chang Creations Limited in respect of its initial public offering and listing on Catalist, the sponsor- supervised platform of the SGX-ST.
- Acted for Asian Healthcare Specialists Limited in respect of its initial public offering and listing on Catalist, the sponsor- supervised platform of the SGX-ST.
- Acted for RHT Health Trust in the establishment of its S$500 million medium term note programme.
- Acted for Tosei Corporation (primarily listed on the TSE) in its secondary listing on the Mainboard of the SGX-ST by way of introduction.
- Acted for certain cornerstone investors in connection with their cornerstone investments in the listings and initial public offerings.
- Acted as Singapore counsel to Singapore companies and/or businesses in their overseas listings in Hong Kong (Main Board and GEM) and in the U.S. (NASDAQ).
- Advised on the listing and reverse takeovers of companies on the SGX-ST and Catalists.
De-SPACs
- Advised VinFast Auto Ltd. in respect of its business combination with Black Spade Acquisition Co. which valued VinFast Auto Ltd. at approximately US$23.0 billion.
- Acted as regional transaction counsel for Synagistics Pte. Ltd. in the business combination between Synagistics and Hong Kong Acquisition Corporation, a SPAC listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. This transaction was Hong Kong’s first ever de-SPAC transaction.
- Acted for DigiAsia Bios Pte. Ltd., a Singapore incorporated Embeddable ‘Fintech-as-a-Service’ (FaaS) company in its business combination with StoneBridge Acquisition Corporation.
MEMBERSHIPS / DIRECTORSHIPS
- Company Secretary, China Jinjiang Environment Holding Company Limited
- Company Secretary, Kimly Limited
PUBLICATIONS
- Co-Author, Singapore Chapter: Law & Practice, Technology M&A Global Practice Guide, Chambers and Partners (2022 – 2024)
- Co-Author, Singapore Chapter, Initial Public Offerings Guide, Lexology GTDT (2021– 2023)
- Co-Author, Singapore Chapter: Law & Practice; Trends & Developments, Private Equity Global Practice Guide, Chambers and Partners (2020 – 2024)
- Co-Author, Singapore Chapter, Capital Markets Comparative Guide, The Legal 500 (2023 – 2024)
- “Leveraging off a Rising Asia: Dual and Secondary Listings”, online article in the Association of Corporate Counsel
