Milbank LLP

Asia Regional Managing Partner (Beijing, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo): David H. Zemans

Managing Partner (Hong Kong): James Grandolfo

Number of Asia partners: 19

Number of Asia fee-earners: 70+

Number of lawyers worldwide: 900+

Languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Malaysian, Tagalog, Hindi

Firm Overview: 

Asia is a highly important focus for Milbank where we have represented clients for almost a century. Milbank covers the region through five active and integrated offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo. With an emphasis on cross border transactions, Milbank’s practices include all types of financing transactions (including acquisition and leveraged finance; banking finance; project, energy and infrastructure finance and transportation finance); financial restructuring; private equity and mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. Team members have deep ties to the region, where each of Milbank’s Asia-based partners have been based for over a decade. The firm’s expertise and lawyers working in the region are regularly recognized. Milbank has received awards from leading publications such as Asian Legal Business, China Business Law Journal, FinanceAsia, IJ Global, India Business Law Journal, Project Finance International and The Asset, among others.

Practice Areas 

Acquisition & Leveraged Finance

Bank Financing & Restructuring

Capital Markets (Debt & Equity)

Private Equity & M&A

Project, Energy & Infrastructure Finance

Transportation & Aviation Finance

Main Areas of Practice: 

Acquisition & Leveraged Finance: 

Milbank has significant experience in acquisition finance and leveraged cross-border investments. The firm has a dedicated acquisition finance team that regularly acts for lenders, underwriters, investors and financial sponsors in the region’s most complex transactions.

Contacts: David Zemans, James Murray, Giles Kennedy, Jacqueline Chan, James Orme (Singapore), Aled Davies (Tokyo), Shepard Liu (Beijing), Davide Mencacci, John Bona (Hong Kong), David Gartside (Seoul)

Bank Financing & Restructuring: 

Milbank has one of the best known bank financing and restructuring practices in Asia and has played a key role in many of the most significant financings and restructurings in the region in the past 25 years.

Contacts: David Zemans, Jacqueline Chan, James Orme, Giles Kennedy, James Murray (Singapore), Aled Davies, Andrew Pendleton (Tokyo), Shepard Liu (Beijing), Davide Mencacci, John Bona, James Grandolfo, Desiree Woo (Hong Kong), David Cho, Spencer Park, David Gartside, Brian Youn (Seoul)

Capital Markets (Debt & Equity): 

Milbank has one of the most experienced capital markets teams in Asia. Its work encompasses a wide variety of capital markets transactions across virtually every sector. The Milbank team has represented issuers and international and local Asian financial institutions on equity and debt offerings since the early 1990s, including numerous listings on exchanges in the US, Asia and elsewhere.

Contacts: Giles Kennedy, David Zemans, Terrence O'Donnell (Singapore), James Grandolfo, Paul Pery, Liang (Alex) Tao (Hong Kong), David Cho, Spencer Park (Seoul)

Private Equity & M&A: 

Milbank has over two decades of experience in private equity, strategic and public M&A in Asia. The team has significant experience representing all the key participants in M&A transactions, including targets, bidders, sellers, minority shareholders, boards of directors and special committees and financial advisors, across many sectors.

Contacts: David Zemans, Jacqueline Chan, Giles Kennedy, James Orme (Singapore), Aled Davies (Tokyo), Shepard Liu (Beijing), Andrew Whan, Neeraj Budhwani, James Grandolfo, Paul Pery (Hong Kong), David Cho, Spencer Park (Seoul)

Project Finance: 

Milbank’s global project, energy and infrastructure finance practice is consistently top-ranked in Asia. With over 45 years’ experience, Milbank continues to advise on many of the key deals in the region. The Asia team works regularly with borrowers and lenders on all forms of financing across nearly every sector, with particular emphasis on transactions involving renewable and conventional power, new energy, oil and gas and energy and natural resources infrastructure.

Contacts: James Murray, David Zemans, Jacqueline Chan, James Orme, Andrew Gibb (Singapore), Aled Davies, Andrew Pendleton, Justen Fleming (Tokyo), Shepard Liu (Beijing), Desiree Woo (Hong Kong), David Gartside, Brian Youn (Seoul)

Transportation & Aviation Finance: 

Milbank is a global leader in transportation asset finance practice, working with airlines throughout Asia, including most major airlines and lessors in the region.

Contacts: David Paterson (Singapore), David Gartside, Brian Youn (Seoul)