Rajeev P. Duggal

Over his 20-plus year career, Mr. Duggal has worked on transactions in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He also has experience advising on sensitive internal and cross-border investigations, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and whistleblower investigations, for corporations, boards and audit committees. He serves on the firm’s Client Engagement, Anti-Money Laundering and International Visiting Attorneys committees.

Under Mr. Duggal’s leadership, the Singapore office has been lauded by industry publications, including by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, which has described the Singapore team as a “market leader” with a “deep bench of experts working on M&A deals” and “the cream of the crop that you would go to for the most complex, or the most prestigious deals ... exceptional for its output quality, hard work and solution-oriented approach.” The publication also described the team as “one of the crème de la crème” and “the gold standard” when handling challenging, high-risk or high-profile M&A projects, in addition to praising “their ability to leverage the different offices around the world to provide seamless service.”

Mr. Duggal has been recognized as a “leading lawyer” or “expert” for M&A and capital markets in several publications and surveys, including IFLR1000, Chambers Global, Chambers Asia Pacific and The Legal 500 Asia Pacific. These publications have quoted clients as saying he has a “calm demeanour in negotiations,” “is a really constructive guy to have on a deal, he really knows what he’s doing,” “is extremely responsive and provides excellent advice” and “is well equipped to deal with issues concerning a range of industries, from oil and gas and infrastructure to real estate and telecoms.” Clients also have described him as “a ‘very hands-on’ practitioner who is valued by clients as someone they can ‘bounce questions off for several different markets’” and has “an ability to handle difficult client topics with the right balance between courtesy and tenacity.”

Mergers and Acquisitions

Mr. Duggal has worked on many M&A transactions of all sizes for acquirers and sellers, including in some of the most complex transactions around the world. Clients have been quoted in Chambers Asia Pacific describing Mr. Duggal as “a reliable and trusted lawyer” who “can convey messages in a very diplomatic way if that’s what’s needed.” Some of his M&A experience includes representing:

• Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. in the $1.8 billion joint acquisition of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. from The Coca-Cola Company
• Bridgetown Holdings Limited in its $342 million business combination with MoneyHero Group. As a result of the merger, MoneyHero will become a publicly traded company
• PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, Tbk. in its $3.9 billion spin-off of IndiHome to PT Telekomunikasi Selular
• Bridgetown 2, a SPAC formed by Pacific Century Group and Thiel Capital LLC, in its $1.36 billion business combination with Singapore-based PropertyGuru, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange
• Axiata Group Berhad in its merger of Celcom Axiata Berhad with Digi Berhad, a subsidiary of Telenor Asia Pte. Ltd. The transaction is valued at over $12 billion and is the largest-ever telecom transaction in Malaysia
• Grab in its $40 billion merger with Altimeter Growth Corp. and its $4 billion PIPE offering. As a result of the merger, Grab — which operates across eight countries — was listed on Nasdaq. The transaction is the largest-ever de-SPAC transaction globally, the largest-ever U.S. equity offering by a Southeast Asian company and the largest-ever PIPE by a Southeast Asian company
• Axiata (telecom) in its $30 billion proposed merger of equals with Telenor Group’s Asia Pacific business, across 10 countries
• HOPU, Hillhouse, Vanke, BOCGI and the buyer consortium in its $11.7 billion going-private acquisition of Global Logistic Properties Limited
• Equis Funds (renewable energy) in its $5 billion sale of Equis Energy, which operates across seven countries in Asia, to Global Infrastructure Partners, the largest announced renewable energy sector M&A deal in history
• Citigroup in its $3 billion sale of its stake, and associated purchase and sale of IBM’s stake, in China Guangfa Bank to China Life
• PT Telkom Indonesia in its sale of a series of joint venture interests valued at $1.5 billion, as well as Telkom’s ICC arbitration with AriaWest/AT&T Wireless
• Mubadala in its $1.2 billion acquisition of a stake in Jio Platforms, an Indian digital services provider and subsidiary of Reliance Industries
• Telekom Malaysia in its $1 billion acquisition of a controlling interest in Excelcomindo
• Mubadala in its $844 million acquisition of a stake in Reliance Retail Ventures, the largest retailer in India and subsidiary of Reliance Industries
• Indosat (towers) in its $519 million sale and leaseback of 2,500 towers to Tower Bersama, the largest tower sale and leaseback transaction at the time in Indonesia
• Northstar Advisors, a Southeast Asia private equity fund, in connection with the sale of its shares of PT Centratama Telekomunikasi (towers) to Digital Colony Partners, a global digital infrastructure investment firm
• Soho Global Health in the sale of a stake in Quadria to CVC
• Twitter in its multiple investments in India-based ShareChat
• Wavecell (cloud computing) in its sale of 100% of its shares to California-based 8x8
• Grab in its:
  • joint venture with Tokopedia and Lippo relating to Indonesian payments business OVO
  • partnership with Telenav in relation to geomapping
• Citigroup in the sales of its:
  • credit card merchant acquiring business in 11 countries across Asia to Germany’s Wirecard
  • margin foreign exchange business to affiliates of FXCM and Saxo Bank
  • Philippines trust bank to BDO Unibank, the Philippines’ largest lender
• WeWork in its joint ventures in Malaysia, Thailand and India
• Times Internet (media) in its acquisition of a majority stake in MX Media, a multimedia technology company with operations in China and Korea
• Axiata in connection with the subsidiarization of its tower businesses in Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh
• Emtek (media) in its acquisition of BlackBerry Messenger
• Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation in its $400 million sale of a minority stake to Cathay Life Insurance, including a primary issuance of shares by RCBC and a secondary sale by an entity controlled by funds advised by CVC and International Finance Corporation
• Varuna Investments in its restructuring and sale of Asian Genco Pte. Ltd.’s interest in Teesta Urja, as well as the settlement of certain disputes and regulatory matters
• Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation in its sale of a strategic stake to the International Finance Corporation
• Forrester Research in its acquisition of Springboard Research with assets in China and India
• ASAT Holdings in its restructuring and sale of ASAT Semiconductor to Global A&T Electronics
• Fortress Investments in its sale of Asian Pragati Capfin, a consumer finance business in India
• numerous other leading global corporates on corporate transactions and matters, including Archer Daniels Midland, Cemex, Google, Mass Mutual, Valeant, Wilmar and Wynn Resorts
• while serving as the assistant general counsel and deputy co-head for Citigroup’s M&A legal department based in New York, Mr. Duggal worked on numerous M&A transactions, including the $11 billion sale of the company’s life insurance and annuities business to MetLife; its joint venture with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Group; its $512 million sale of Citigroup Global Services Limited to Tata Consultancy Services; its joint venture with PAAMCO and the establishment of Global Hedge Strategies; and its acquisition of Insular Savings and Trust Company’s branch network in the Philippines

IPOs/Equity Offerings

Mr. Duggal has worked with companies to raise over $7 billion in U.S. SEC-registered and Reg. S/Rule 144A IPOs, rights offerings and other equity offerings in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, including U.S. IPOs with NYSE/Nasdaq listings, and regional IPOs on the Indonesia (IDX), India (BSE), Singapore (SGX) and Philippines (PSE) stock exchanges. These matters have included:

• Global Digital Niaga, the holding company for the Blibli (e-commerce), Tiket.com (travel) and Ranch Market (groceries) platforms, in its $510 million IPO and IDX listing (bank counsel)
• TDCX Inc. in its $348 million IPO of American depositary shares and listing on the NYSE. This transaction was named Best IPO 2021 for Singapore at the 2021 The Asset Country Awards (company counsel)
• Bridgetown 2 in its NYSE listing and $100 million PIPE (SPAC counsel)
• Grab in its F-4 registration statement and Nasdaq listing and $4 billion PIPE (company counsel)
• Money Online’s U.S. IPO and Nasdaq listing, the first-ever U.S. listing by a Malaysian company (company counsel)
• Azure Power’s U.S. IPO and NYSE listing, and private placement (company counsel)
• SEA Limited’s $1 billion follow-on offering (company counsel)
• PT Telkom’s $250 million follow-on ADR offering (bank counsel)
• Garuda Airlines’ privatization, IPO and IDX listing (company counsel)
• Bank Mandiri’s privatization, $330 million IPO and IDX listing (company counsel)
• Jasa Marga’s privatization, IPO and IDX listing (company counsel)
• Protelindo (towers) in its $400 million re-IPO and IDX listing (company counsel)
• Hermina Hospitals’ 1.3 trillion Indonesian rupiah IPO and IDX listing (company counsel)
• Prodia (clinical labs) in its $100 million IPO and IDX listing (company counsel)
• Mitra Keluarga (hospitals) in its $340 million IPO and IDX listing (company counsel)
• Cemex Philippines (cement) in its $535 million IPO and PSE listing (company counsel)
• XL Axiata’s $500 million rights offering on IDX (bank counsel)
• Cemex Philippines’ $250 million rights offering on PSE (company counsel)
• Ascott REIT’s $400 million rights offering on SGX (sole counsel)
• Grameenphone’s $140 million IPO and listing on the Bangladesh Stock Exchange (bank counsel)
• Inox Wind (renewable energy) in its $160 million IPO and Bombay Stock Exchange listing (sole counsel)
• Tower Bersama (towers) in its $230 million IPO and IDX listing (company counsel)
• Austindo Nusantara Jaya (oil palms) in its IPO and IDX listing (bank counsel)
• Jaiprakash Power’s $175 million qualified institutional placement (sole counsel)
• Toba Coal’s IPO and IDX listing (bank counsel)
• Jaiprakash Power in its “offer for sale” by Jaypee Infra (sole counsel)
• DB Corp (newspapers) in its $82 million IPO and BSE listing (sole counsel)
• Jaypee Infratech (expressways) in its $500 million IPO and BSE listing (sole counsel)
• Lanco Infratech (energy) in its $150 million IPO and BSE listing (sole counsel)
• 3i Infotech (software) in its $66 million IPO and BSE listing (bank counsel)
• Delta Dunia (mining) in its rights offering on IDX (bank counsel)

High-Yield and Other U.S. Dollar Bond Offerings, and Liability Management

Mr. Duggal has helped clients raise over $8 billion in high-yield and other Reg. S/Rule 144A U.S. dollar bond offerings, including:

• Medco Energi in its:
  • $500 million high-yield bond offering (company counsel)
  • tender offers for senior notes due over four years, raising in aggregate up to $190 million (company counsel)
  • $650 million high-yield bond offering, which was named the 2020 IFLR Asia-Pacific Awards High Yield Deal of the Year (company counsel)
  • four additional high-yield bonds totaling $2 billion (company counsel)
• SEA Limited in securing $1.15 billion of convertible bonds (company counsel)
• Bharti Airtel in securing $1.75 billion of U.S. dollar-denominated bonds (bank counsel)
• BSD in five high-yield bonds worth over $750 million (company counsel)
• Pertamina in securing $750 million of U.S. dollar-denominated bonds (bank counsel)
• Modernland in four high-yield bonds worth over $450 million (company and bank counsel)
• Indosat in its consent solicitation for its $650 million in high-yield bonds (company counsel)
• BUMA in securing $350 million of high-yield bonds (bank counsel)
• 3i Infotech in its restructuring of its $125 million Foreign Currency Convertible Bond (FCCB) and exchange offer/issuance of new FCCBs (company counsel)
• Bakrie Telecom in securing $130 million of high-yield bonds (bank counsel)
• Ashok Leyland in securing $100 million of convertible bonds (sole counsel)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina in its commercial debt restructuring and U.S. dollar-denominated bonds (issuer’s counsel)
• the Republic of Brazil in securing numerous U.S. dollar-denominated bonds (issuer’s counsel)
• the city of Rio de Janeiro in securing $25 million in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds (issuer’s counsel)
• the Republic of Panama in its $6 billion “Brady” plan restructuring and securing $500 million in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds (issuer’s counsel)
• the Republic of Yemen in its World Bank/International Development Association $300 million debt buyback (country counsel)
• the Republic of Pakistan in its exchange offer and $600 million in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds (issuer’s counsel)

From 2004-09, Mr. Duggal held senior roles at Citigroup Inc. He was managing director and general counsel, Asia Pacific, for Citigroup’s retail banking businesses, including Citi Retail Banking, Citi Private Bank, Citi Credit Cards, CitiFinancial and Citi Smith Barney, based in Singapore, and assistant general counsel and deputy co-head of Citigroup’s M&A legal department based in New York, where he oversaw the team responsible for executing Citigroup’s global proprietary mergers and acquisitions transactions.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Singapore) LLP is licensed in Singapore as a registered foreign law firm to advise clients on certain aspects of their international transactions and operations. We are not authorized to practice Singapore law. All matters relating to advice as to Singapore law will be dealt with by a separate local Singapore law firm.