Law.com International Honors Dechert for Excellence in ESG and Fund Formation in Asia

Dechert has been recognized for excellence in ESG and investment funds at Law.com International’s Asia Legal Awards 2024, established to celebrate outstanding performance and innovation in Asia’s legal profession.

Dechert was named “Investment Funds Firm of the Year” for closing multiple Asia-focused equity and credit funds. The firm’s Asia-based funds team, led by partners Dean Collins, Michael Wong and Thomas Kim, has worked on private equity fund closings involving over US$5.6 billion in commitments across 40 Asia-focused funds in the past year. The team also set up six credit funds with respect to US$1.345 billion in commitments and acted on seven secondaries transactions involving over US$3 billion in assets.

In the "ESG Deal of the Year" category, a Dechert matter – the Monsoon Wind renewable energy initiative, the first cross-border wind power project Southeast Asia – was named as winner. A Dechert team led by Singapore-based partner Maria Tan Pedersen advised ACEN, the energy platform of Philippines-headquartered Ayala Corporation, on the complex legal and regulatory challenges involved in closing a cornerstone investment in the pioneering project. Located in Lao PDR, Monsoon Wind will generate 600MW of power for Vietnam under a 25-year supply agreement and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 750,000 tons annually.

Dechert was also a finalist in three additional categories. Partner Maria Tan Pedersen was shortlisted as “Energy and Infrastructure Lawyer of the Year”, while Egypt’s debut sustainable “panda” bond issuance was a finalist in both the “ESG Deal of the Year” and “Securities Deal of the Year: Debt” categories. A Dechert team led by partners Jennifer Rees and Patrick Lyons acted as international counsel to the Arab Republic of Egypt on the pioneering transaction, the first by a sovereign African issuer in the Chinese interbond market.

Winners in the Asia Legal Awards were announced at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore on March 14.

About Dechert

Dechert is a global law firm that advises asset managers, financial institutions and corporations on issues critical to managing their business and their capital – from high-stakes litigation to complex transactions and regulatory matters. We answer questions that seem unsolvable, develop deal structures that are new to the market and protect clients’ rights in extreme situations. Our 1,000+ lawyers across 21 offices globally focus on the financial services, private equity, private credit, real estate, life sciences and technology sectors.