OLD Ass Dir

Pooja Sinha

Associate Director
(Registered Foreign Lawyer)
pooja.sinha@fortelaw.com
+65 6505 0200

Corporate finance lawyer with both traditional and new age financial services experience. Expertise in capital markets, debt restructuring, fund formation and regulatory compliance matters including in the technology space.

Pooja is a corporate finance specialist with the unique ability to advise clients in both the traditional and new age economy. Her traditional experience includes representing corporates, bulge-bracket investment banks, funds and other financial services intermediaries on banking, fund lending, capital markets and debt restructuring transactions. She also has experience of investment fund formations and financial services compliance matters. Her new age experience includes guiding technology-enabled businesses on a range of matters from their regulatory licensing strategy, contractual risk mitigation strategy and fundraising through both the traditional and new age routes.

Having trained at and then qualified in Clifford Chance, London, Pooja relocated to Asia with Linklaters and was thereafter part of O’Melveny’s award-winning Singapore office launch team. Most recently, she was a Partner at a Singapore-based international innovator firm. She has closed 100+ cross-border deals in the US, Europe and Asia in a 20+ year stint that has spanned 4 countries. She has worked on several first-of-its-kind deals and has been a featured lawyer in the Chambers and IFLR lawyer rankings, among others.

Pooja graduated from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, India with a B.A.L.L.B. (Hons) and holds a masters in law from the University of Oxford. She is registered as a solicitor in England and Wales. She also holds a number of compliance-related certifications – the International Compliance Association's Advanced Certificate in Governance, Risk and Compliance, the PDPC’s Practitioner Certificate in Personal Data Protection and the CIPP (Asia) and the CIPM certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Apart from the above, Pooja holds leadership roles in global, professional associations- She is the Asia Networks Director of the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) and received the 2018 IWIRC Fetner Award for Outstanding International Contribution by an International Member. She has also been appointed on INSOL’s Technical Committee 2019-2021.

Significant Matters

Traditional Finance Advisory: Advised borrowers, funds and financial institutions on 20+ bilateral and syndicated loan financings in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

New Age Finance Advisory:

Advised on international aspects of financings by several blockchain-enabled businesses including first-of-its-kind security token offerings, initial coin offerings and initial exchange offerings.
Finalised the terms of service for a variety of digital platforms based on an international regulatory risk-assessment and contractual risk mitigation strategies.

Investment Funds: Advised first-time funds on several matters relating to their set-up including finalising the fund documentation and co-ordination with local counsel and compliance providers.

Debt Restructuring: Advised on a number of bespoke transactions including:

An Indonesian petrochemical company on multiple rounds of consent solicitations to waive an interest payment default on its project-related bonds.
A group of hedge funds on structuring an exit on their defaulted Indian pre-IPO investment.
A HK-based hedge fund on refinancing an Indonesian shipping company’s bank debt including structuring a new security package.
An Indonesian conglomerate on its proposed restructuring of US-listed debt issued by a Dutch holdco through a scheme of arrangement before the English courts.

Debt Capital Markets: Advised on both new issues and liability management transactions including:

ANZ, JPM and Stanchart on the Reg S, SGX-listed SGD 115 million bond offering by Trikomsel.
Madison Pacific (as exchange agent and incoming trustee) on the convertible bond exchange offer by Sterling Biotech.
Stanchart, ABN AMRO, Citi and Calyon on the USD 875 million convertible bond exchange offer of Tata Steel Limited, the then largest such exchange offer in the Asia-Pacific region.
Advised China Eastern Airlines as international counsel on its RMB 2.5 billion (USD 390 million) dim sum bond offering.

Equity Capital Mkts: Advised on deals in India and Indonesia including:

Bulge-bracket investment banks as international counsel on several India IPOs and FPOs with a Rule 144A/ Reg S component including 15+ transactions >USD 1 billion.
IDX-listed BTN bank on its rights offering and concurrent share placement (Banks: CS, GS,Bahana, Danareksa & Mandiri).

Other Capital Markets Products: Advised on several such products including advising:

Stanchart and Morgan Stanley on the first ever proposed Singapore business trust listing by an Indian company.
Stanchart on its historic Indian listing via a depositary receipt issue;
Barclays bank on several convertible bond issues.