Sidley represented Vietnamese real estate developer No Va Land Investment Group Corporation (No Va Land), one of the largest listed real estate developers in Vietnam, in the successful restructuring of its Singapore Exchange-listed (SGX), New York law governed offshore US$300 million convertible bonds. No Va Land was also advised by YKVN LLC regarding Vietnamese law and BlackOak LLC regarding Singapore law.
The restructuring was completed on July 5, 2024, and is the first-ever cross-border pre-packaged scheme of arrangement (Pre-pack Scheme) approved by the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). This precedent setting restructuring highlights the importance of Singapore as a global restructuring hub, and the ability of the Singapore courts to take jurisdiction in cases involving offshore parties.
No Va Land obtained an order for the approval for the Pre-pack Scheme from the SICC on April 26, 2024. The approval hearing was before Justice James Michael Peck. The Pre-pack Scheme proposed by No Va Land received overwhelming support (in excess of 95%) from creditors, and was heard and approved only two weeks after the initial filing of the application. Justice Peck’s written decision noted that “[t]he success of this expedited judicial process was due in large measure to the planning and diligence of the professionals and their careful attention to detail.”
Leveraging on its experience from other restructurings, Sidley provided strategic advice to No Va Land and the matter is a testament to Sidley’s strong restructuring credentials. This deal is one of the highest profile cross-border restructurings for a Vietnamese-listed company to take place in the market.
Sidley’s multidisciplinary, cross-border team was led by Matthew Sheridan (Singapore), Alexius Chong (Singapore), Gordon Davidson (London), Mark Knight (London), and Shashwat Tewary (Singapore), and supported by Joshua Oeij (Hong Kong), Elley Lee (London), and Caulyn Bong (Singapore).
