Wei Meng Chan

Practice Areas

Wei Meng’s practice is focused on corporate and individual insolvency and restructuring work. His other areas of practice include investigations, involving fraud, accounting irregularities, securities trading and market manipulation, as well as commercial litigation work, handling contentious commercial, shareholder, employment and other disputes.

He has been involved in some of the largest restructuring in Asia, and has more than 20 years’ experience in matters of corporate insolvency, schemes of arrangements and compromise, judicial management, liquidation and cross-border restructuring exercises. He has advised liquidators and judicial managers on a variety of matters resulting from the liquidation and judicial management of companies, and has been involved with daily operational, management and creditor issues.

Career

L.L.B. (Hons), National University of Singapore; Admitted to the Singapore Bar; Solicitor, England and Wales

Professional Memberships

Member, Law Society of Singapore; Member, Singapore Academy of Law; Member, Law Society of England & Wales; Fellow, Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore Limited (IPAS); Member, INSOL International

Experience

Wei Meng has been involved in many high profile matters. Here are just a few:

1. Ezra Holdings Limited - Advised Ezra Holdings Limited on its US$1.49 billion cross-border debt restructuring involving a restructuring under the Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code which was to be followed by judicial management under Section 227 of the Singapore Companies Act. In 2018, the Singapore High Court approved Ezra Holdings’ application for a cross-border protocol between Singapore court and the US Bankruptcy Court in relation to its bankruptcy proceedings—one of the first restructuring which applied the cross-border protocol adopted by the Singapore Supreme Court under the Judicial Insolvency Network initiative introduced in October 2016.

2. TT International Ltd - Advised the major shareholders-directors of the homegrown, mainboard-listed global electronics distributor, who had incurred significant personal debt of about S$68 million due to guarantees and undertakings granted to bank lenders to secure credit facilities for the company. In 2010, to protect the interest of the company and its stakeholders, he advised the shareholders-directors to file for bankruptcy before filing for statutory protection under the Bankruptcy Act in a proposed voluntary arrangement. These steps provided an avenue for the controlling shareholders-directors to resolve their personal debt and for the company to successfully implement a scheme of arrangement to restructure some S$500 million of debt which was sanctioned by the Singapore Courts and affirmed by the Singapore Court of Appeal in 2010.

Wei Meng is now advising TT International on the second round of restructuring of its S$500 million debt obligations, including the debt obligations under the scheme of arrangement that was sanctioned by the Singapore Courts and affirmed by the Singapore Court of Appeal in October 2010. The second round of debt restructuring involves a new scheme of arrangement which is funded by a convertible loan of S$48 million from an investor. This was one of the first debt restructuring carried out by way of a pre-pack scheme of arrangement, a restructuring tool introduced by way of legislative amendments to the Singapore debt restructuring regime in 2017.

3. Bumi Resources Tbk - Bumi Resources Tbk is a public company limited by shares and incorporated in Indonesia with a global presence in a total of 67 entities incorporated across various jurisdictions, including Indonesia, Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Seychelles and the Caymans Islands (Bumi Group). The total debt being restructured is estimated at over US$5.23 billion. The restructuring that started in 2014 included Singapore entities that were specifically incorporated by PT Bumi Resources Tbk as special purpose vehicles to raise funds for and on behalf of the Bumi Group, via the issue of USD700 million guaranteed senior secured notes due 2017 and USD300 million guaranteed senior secured notes due 2016 and USD375 million worth of bonds redeemable on 4 August 2014 respectively. This deal was awarded the Debt Market Deal of the Year (Premium) at Asian Legal Business SE Asia Law Awards 2018

4. Thakral group of companies - Advised the group in 2013 on restructuring loans of US$718 million from banks and financial institutions. The restructuring exercise involved an innovative, parallel scheme of arrangement in Singapore and Hong Kong, which the courts in both jurisdictions had to sanction concurrently. The debt restructuring comprised three components. A Tier 1 debt of S$62 million was deemed sustainable, a Tier 2 debt of S$200 million was deemed unsustainable, and a Tier 3 debt was converted into equity. The debt restructuring also consisted of a cash sweep mechanism that let creditors benefit from any excess cash derived from daily operations. In 2018, Wei Meng advised on the discharge of the restructured debt through a pre-packed scheme of arrangement under the new legislation introduced in 2017.

5. Nam Cheong Limited - Advised Nam Cheong Limited (Nam Cheong) and its subsidiaries on a US$1.35 billion debt restructuring in 2017, including US$240 million bonds issued and listed on the Singapore Exchange. The matter is complex given the diverse nature and locations of the borrower’s businesses and assets and the restructuring is carried out via parallel and inter-conditional scheme of arrangement by Nam Cheong and schemes of arrangements by its key subsidiaries in Malaysia.

6. Bank of Mauritius - Worked with financial advisors appointed by the country’s central bank to investigate the country’s largest banking fraud in 2003. He assisted in the preparation of a confidential report that has been extensively discussed in the Mauritian Parliament and media.