Malaysian law firm RDS Partnership continues its expansion plan to grow new practice areas with the hiring of partner Siang Ly Teo to lead its corporate banking and financing transactions team.
Teo joined from Christopher Lee Ong, a Malaysia member firm of Rajah & Tann, where she was a partner.
Senior partner Datuk Naban told Asia Business Law Journal that, after RDS’s recent strategic alliance with Chinese peer DeHeng Law Offices, demand arose for a dedicated partner to specialise in corporate banking and financing transactions.
Naban explained why Teo was the right fit.
“It must be noted that Siang Ly often advises mainland Chinese banks and Chinese corporate borrowers on cross-border loan financing transactions,” said Naban.
Teo’s recruitment to the ranks comes on the heels of the Malaysian firm’s move in February this year with the addition of four new partners covering multiple areas including intellectual property, corporate finance and fintech, restructuring and insolvency. Among the hires was former managing director of Morgan Lewis, Stamford Wai Ming Yap, who joined the corporate finance and fintech practice at RDS.
Admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, Teo specialises in advising both financial institutions and corporate borrowers on corporate loan financing matters. Besides her background in corporate banking, Teo advises on general corporate and commercial matters from joint ventures, share acquisitions and disposals to shareholder agreements, while handling corporate real estate transactions.
Earlier in her career, she also practised as a partner at Malaysian law firms Halim Hong and Quek, and at Jal & Lim as a senior legal associate.
