Asia Pacific
Taylor Vinters is an international law firm with offices in Singapore, London and Cambridge.
Our dedicated team of over 200 professionals is focused on delivering the highest standards of legal and business support to our clients in the UK, US and Asia.
Our mission
The mission of the Asia Pacific business is to deliver fit for purpose commercial legal solutions to a range of clients in the South East Asian and Greater China marketplaces, from high growth SMEs to listed multinationals in the technology, media and consumer sectors.
Our focus
With the firm's international head office located in Cambridge's world renowned Science Park, technology has always been part of Taylor Vinters' DNA.
In keeping with the rapid pace of global technological change, we are committed to finding innovative solutions to our clients' business needs, delivering value not only as an external legal advisor, but also as a trusted business partner across continents. We support this objective by ensuring that our senior lawyers in all offices have spent significant time in business as well as having first class legal skills.
The Singapore team is supported by our global network of local law firms with representation in all major markets in Asia, including Keystone Law in Singapore with whom we work closely.
Our lawyers have extensive experience advising our clients in the following areas:
Technology transactions and advisory
We help multinationals procure technology, drawing on over 20 years of experience of international best practice procurement and deal structuring, across Travel/Airline, Retail, Financial Services, Utility, Healthcare and TMT sectors in Asia, UK and the Americas.
We also help clients reconcile technology and regulation, in specific sectors and generally. We are experts in international data protection and privacy regulation.
Outsourcing
Our lawyers have over 17 years' experience of outsourcing deals, from pure IT outsourcing through to business process outsourcing and offshoring in Asia, UK and the Americas. Our experience means that we can help develop corporate and procurement strategy as well as negotiate the final deals.
Investment and market entry
Against the backdrop of an increasingly active Asian M&A environment, our corporate team offers investment advice to clients ranging from early stage companies to MNCs in the planning and execution of their strategic investment activities across the region, whether as investor or target. Our leading lawyers are able to draw on extensive transactional experience across Greater China and South East Asia to deliver successful outcomes for our clients.
Our venture capital team has in excess of 150 early and growth stage technology companies as active clients and we complete between 30 and 40 fundraisings each year. We can use our network of contacts with the venture capital and business angel community to make introductions to appropriate potential investors in your business. We are big enough to have the strength in depth that you need, but we are also small enough that your business and our relationship with you will be really important to us.
We also help predominantly UK-based technology companies devise and execute their Asia market entry strategy. Because we offer people who have run and managed technology businesses in the region, we are able to offer a broader range of market and commercial insights than the typical law firm in addition to providing access to valuable contacts and connections in the region.
Technology transactions and advisory
- System integration projects, for example:
- Identity and access
- Unified communications
- Banking systems
- Insurance systems
- Airline systems
- Payment systems
- Shipping and logistics
- Data integration/Single Customer View/Master Data Management
- Call centre kit-out
- Marketing and sales automation
- Software development projects
- Cloud and SAAS services supply/structuring
- Software licensing
- Data privacy and data protection, for example:
- Global impact analysis and solutions
- Data portfolio assessment
- Data portfolio remediation
- Training – business and legal
- Telecoms/network outsourcing
Outsourcing
- IT infrastructure and support outsourcing, e.g. web, data centre
- BPO:
- Back, middle and front office – retail financial services
- Reservations/departure control systems – airline and travel industry
- Finance, marketing, HR, legal and procurement outsourcing
- Application development and maintenance
Investment and market entry
The Taylor Vinters Asia Pacific team provides a mix of the following capabilities and experience:
- Asian M&A and technology-deal experience
- Advising for, and in relation to, VC funding
- Spoken and written Mandarin
- Exits
- Expat legal support
- Asia/Singapore market entry advisory and implementation
- Regulatory assessment and resolution - new propositions, technologies
- M&A
- Strategic partnerships and joint ventures
- Agency, reseller and distributor agreements
- Equity/debt funding
- Exit/sale preparation and transformation
- Cross-border IP structuring/protection
Our team
The Singapore office is headed by Tim Pullan, an international technology and outsourcing lawyer who has spent part of his career in executive roles with Experian, a FTSE 50 company in the technology, marketing analytics and consumer data industry. Tim has significant experience of negotiating large IT projects in Asia, Europe and the US for buy-side MNCs in financial services, retail, utilities, electronics, media, airline and logistics sectors and also vendor-side deals, as well as being a specialist in IP, internet-related issues and data privacy.
Heading up our Singapore office, Tim Pullan is an international technology and outsourcing lawyer who has spent part of his career in executive roles with Experian, a FTSE 50 company in the technology, marketing analytics and consumer data industry. Tim has significant experience of negotiating large IT projects in Asia, Europe and US for buy-side MNCs in financial services, retail, utilities, electronics, media, airline and logistics sectors and also vendor-side deals, as well as being a specialist in IP, internet-related issues and data privacy.
Henry Goodwin
Consultant
Henry Goodwin is a consultant with Taylor Vinters' Asia team, based in Singapore. Henry specialises in the delivery of cross border venture capital, M&A, and commercial sourcing solutions to startups, SMEs and multinational companies in the technology, media, FMCG and professional services sectors.
After practising as a corporate and commercial lawyer with Allen & Overy and Bird & Bird in London and Paris, Henry moved to Singapore in 2008, and has experience working both in-house and as an external adviser to a variety of Asia-based companies, from technology startups to a Singapore-based multi-billion dollar private investment organisation and a global FMCG company.
Matt is Taylor Vinters' chief executive and a specialist in IT projects and outsourcing. Clients quoted in Legal 500 say that he is "exceptional" and praise him for "an intuitive ability to demonstrate an appropriate level of business and technological knowledge."
Matt's first experience in IT projects came while working in Auckland for New Zealand heavyweight Bell Gully. Matt returned to the UK to join the Eversheds IT projects team. He moved to Taylor Vinters in 2005 tasked with building an international IT projects powerhouse outside London.
With deep experience in system acquisition and integration, Matt also advises on software licensing, outsourcing and business process reengineering around new technologies.
Joanna is an Associate based in Singapore. Prior to joining Taylor Vinters, she had worked both in private practice and as in-house counsel in local and multinational corporations.
Through her years of experience gained in private practice and in-house, Joanna is attuned to both legal and commercial issues and she enjoys working with clients to achieve positions which work both legally and commercially.
Tom joined Taylor Vinters in May 2010 from Norton Rose in Shanghai as an associate in the corporate team. He has previously worked in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. He is a Mandarin speaker, an M&A specialist, active in joint ventures and has particular expertise in cross-border corporate finance transactions. Tom's experience strengthens the firm's international capability.
His recent work includes advising on: a US$70m investment into a Chinese biomass project; a fund investment into PRC medical facility; a solar joint venture between a European client and PRC counterpart; and a wind farm investment in South Asia.
Adrian joined Taylor Vinters in November 2010 as a partner in the corporate team. Adrian has considerable experience advising those in the technology and life sciences industries on venture capital transactions, acting both for investors and the companies they fund on matters ranging from early-stage investments, subsequent funding rounds and 'venture' debt through to exit via share or business sale.
Adrian has had the benefit of two periods as an 'in-house' lawyer and the perspective this provides. First, for Cambridge Display Technology in the run-up to their IPO on NASDAQ, and more recently as General Counsel for private equity fund, Hamilton Bradshaw.
James is a partner and head of the tax, trusts and estates team. He also leads the financial services team focusing on advising partners in professional service firms and expats. Originally a partner in Taylor Vinters' litigation team, James re-qualified as a tax and trusts lawyer. His workload consists of advising clients on estate planning issues, lifetime settlements, Wills and IHT and CGT advice generally.
James also advises a number of owner managers of private family businesses - particularly on aspects of succession planning. He is well known in the local business community for his energy, enthusiasm and clear, no-nonsense advice.