PARTNERS

BERNARD TAN THIAM SWEE
Email: bernardtan@adcobrunei.com
QUALIFICATION
PRACTICE AREAS

OVERVIEW
Bernard focuses on corporate, commercial, banking and property practice areas with transactional experience in mergers & acquisitions, stock exchange listings, public offerings, capital markets, corporate finance, structured finance, securities and mutual funds legislations, corporate and retail banking transactions, property development, insurance and corporate and debt restructuring schemes.
Bernard handles the Firm’s international clients and advises them on their acquisitions, divestments, and businesses in Brunei as well as their joint ventures with local partners. He has been involved in several significant transactions and projects in Brunei including the setting up of a statutory authority to manage an industrial park, the acquisition of a major operating interest in a Brunei offshore oilfield, a bank merger between 2 local banks, and the sale and acquisition loan and auto-finance loan portfolios.
He has been in practice for over 30 years in Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam. Bernard is ranked as an elite practitioner in Brunei in Asialaw, in Band I in Chambers and Partners and as a market leading lawyer in IFLR1000. He was named Brunei’s Lawyer of the Year in Asialaw’s 2021 Client Service Excellence Awards.
Bernard is a Commissioner for Oaths.
EXPERIENCE
- Acted for Special Administrators appointed by Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad in Idris Hydraulic (Malaysia) Berhad’s debt and corporate restructuring exercise involving debt reconstruction and settlement in the amount of approximately RM857,000,000-00 with, inter alia, 12 banks and credit and finance companies;
- Acted for Special Administrators appointed by Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad in Austral Amalgamated Berhad’s debt reconstruction and settlement of approximately RM805,000,000-00 of debt and transfer of its listing status to Furqan Business Organisation Berhad;
- Co-advised Time Engineering Berhad’s successfully restructured repayment obligations of US Dollar 250,000,000-00 mortgage bonds working in association with JP Morgan Inc and a group foreign syndicated institutional holder;
- Acted for Special Administrators appointed by Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad in Woo Hing Brothers (Malaya) Bhd’s corporate restructuring exercise involving the acquisition of the entire equity for RM1,560,000-00 and the purchase of 10 asset companies valued at RM256,000,000-00 via a combination of equity and debt securities.
Brunei
- Advised Malaysian International Shipping Corporation Berhad on its lease and operation of a floating production storage and offloading facility in Brunei.
- Co-advised Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad on its acquisition of a 37.5% operating interest in Block B Maharajalela Jamalulalam (MLJ) field offshore Brunei from TotalEnergies EP (Brunei) BV.
- Advised Daiso Japan on its distribution and licensing agreements in Brunei.
- Advised Ishii Iron Works Co. Ltd Brunei on several of its engineering, procurement, and construction contracts with a leading oil operator in Brunei.
- Advised Citicorp Trustee (Singapore) Limited acting trustee on the transfer of insurance assets which were held under trust and custody by a foreign insurer in Brunei to its affiliate’s branch.
- Advised Baiduri Bank Berhad and Baiduri Finance Berhad on their acquisition of the retail, commercial and auto-finance portfolios from HSBC Brunei and HSBC Finance (B) Berhad, respectively in Brunei.
- Advised United Overseas Bank Limited Brunei on the sale of its retail portfolio to Baiduri Bank Berhad.
- Co-advised the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (formerly known as Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam) on its BND100 million Islamic bills series issuance programme.
- Advised the Brunei Economic Development Board on several of its major projects and initiatives involving inter alia:
- Advised the Islamic Development Bank Berhad in its B$400,000,000-00 merger transaction with Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam;
- Advised a local joint venture liquefied natural gas company and its co-adviser in its Brunei $100,000,000-00 issue of Islamic Sukuk (bonds).
- Advised Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Berhad on its acquisition and transfer of the business and assets in Brunei Darussalam of Aviva Insurance Berhad and its setting up and licensing registration with the authorities.
- Advised SBI Holdings Inc in the setting up of USD Dollar and Singapore Dollar denominated Islamic private equity funds in Brunei in collaboration with a Brunei Government agency.
- Advised Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd on the legal and regulatory framework in connection with its setting up of banking business in Brunei and in its branch registration
- Advised AMEC Group in its acquisition of local oil and gas assets in Brunei from Scorpus Group.
- • Advised clients in tender and negotiations for ICT contracts with the Brunei Government and their technical partners in a number of transactions including (i) the e-Government Public Key Infrastructure System (EG PKI) Project with the DTSS, Ministry of Finance, (ii) the Industry and Trade Management System (ITMS) Project with Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, (iii) the Gerbang Bahasa System (Library) Project, with the Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka Brunei, Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports and Web Portal Application System Project for the Brunei Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
- Advised Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam Berhad on its multi-million procurement of banking solution and systems software and services from multiple vendors and service providers.
- Advised Telekom Brunei Berhad on its joint venture with a leading foreign IT software and service provider to set a contact centre in Brunei.
- Advised Telekom Brunei Berhad on the commissioning of its broadband fibre optic network infrastructure project.
- Advised a foreign company on the accession documents and guarantee by its subsidiary in relation to a multi- million dollar restructured syndicated loan and bond facilities.
- Advised a leading listed Singapore entity on its consortium agreement with a local major private corporate group to undertake an EPC Project for a waste management system in Brunei.
- Advised Soy & World International on its joint venture with a local Brunei company to undertake manufacturing and marketing of soy related products in Brunei and regionally.
- Advised one of the world’s major integrated oil and gas services and solutions provider on its investment and joint venture with a local partner to develop business in Brunei.
– the setting up of the Sungai Liang Industrial Park consisting of approximately 271 hectares of land to locate up to 4 petrochemical plants;
– the establishment of the Sungai Liang Authority via the Sungai Liang Authority Order 2007 working in conjunction with foreign solicitors;
– the cooperation and project agreements with the Brunei Methanol Company Sdn Bhd for the proposed setting up of a methanol industrial plant in Sungai Liang and the marine export facility; and
– the setting up of the first Brunei SME ICT Incubation Centre (i-Centre).