Jakarta-based ALTA Advocates has broadened its partner bench with the addition of Kristo Molina, the managing partner of White & Case’s Indonesia association firm Witara Cakra Advocates.
As one of four partners, Molina will lead the firm’s capital markets practice, covering a gamut of transactions from IPOs, debt and equity offerings to asset-backed securities, tender offers and REITs.
Dimas Triandhanu Utomo, managing partner of ALTA Advocates, told Asia Business Law Journal that Molina’s capabilities and extensive network further expanded the firm’s access to global markets and strengthened its presence in Indonesia.
Molina brings more than 25 years of experience to ALTA Advocates, which currently has around 10 lawyers excluding partners. He has advised on IPOs, rights issues and M&A transactions, bringing strong connections with local, regional and international investment banks.
The capital markets partner has spent nearly his entire legal career to date practising at Indonesia’s association firms of global law firms. This included a 16-year stint at Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung in association with Herbert Smith Freehills from 2000 to 2016, during which he served as a partner.
At Witara Cakra Advocates in association with White & Case, where he spent just over nine years, Molina co-led a team in advising Bangkok Bank Public Company on its USD2.3 billion acquisition of an 89.12% shareholding in Indonesia’s Bank Permata from Standard Chartered Bank and Astra International back in 2020.
Over the years, Molina has also built a personal record of advising on capital markets transactions in Indonesia or involving Indonesian parties with a cross-border element. One of those deals involved acting for Avia Avian and certain selling shareholders in Avian’s USD771 million IPO on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), which included a Rule 144A/Regulation S offshore tranche.
At ALTA Advocates, Molina has reunited with his former partner-level colleague at Witara Cakra Advocates and Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung, I Fajar Ramadhan. Ramadham, one of four partners at ALTA Advocates, specialises in banking and finance, loan restructurings and international bond offerings among other areas.
