ESG regulatory developments and key issues in the Asia Pacific region

Vincent Qian is the senior partner of the firm. His main practice fields include corporate M&A, real estate, engineering construction, mining and energy, cross-border investment, int’l trade and dispute resolution. He was admitted to bar since 1996 and had worked in the ministry in charge of natural resources administration under the State Council for many years. He has extensive experiences in both transaction and litigation/arbitration, with particular expertise in handling different legal matters in respect of mining and energy development and investment. His main clients include state-owned enterprises, listed companies, foreign-funded enterprises and foreign enterprises, financial institutions and government agencies. He is currently the lead of the BRI Research Center of the firm and the co-lead of the Energy, Natural Resources and Environment Sector Group. He used to serve for years as the leader of the mining practice group and the leader of the mining and natural resources sector group of Dentons China region since 2016. He also served as the head of the energy, natural resources and environment practice group of Beijing office. He received Bachelor degree in engineering from Chengdu University of Technology (formerly Chengdu College of Geology), LL.B from China University of Political Science and Law, LL.M from Peking University and LL.M from Chicago-Kent College of Law, respectively. In addition, he was frequently invited to present expert opinions as a legal expert or as a guest speaker at various professional conferences.

Victoria is a multispecialist financing lawyer who advises borrowers and financial institutions on a broad range of transactions, including in particular on energy finance and project development. Victoria advises on energy and infrastructure projects, acquisition finance, leverage finance, restructurings, real estate finance, sustainable finance and corporate finance. She advises clients in relation to domestic and cross border debt financings and uses her bilingual English and French and other language skills to facilitate negotiations.

Elsa is Regional Co-Head of Allen & Gledhill LLP’s Competition & Foreign Investment Review Practice, and Co-Head of its ESG & Public Policy Practice. She regularly assists clients on complex antitrust and foreign investments review matters in Singapore and beyond, including merger control, global cartel and abuse of dominance investigations. Her experience ranges from strategy and advocacy in submissions to negotiation of commitments to obtain merger control and foreign investment approvals. Elsa’s ESG and public policy experience ranges from assisting clients to map out ESG trends and implications, policy drafting, advocacy, and assisting on legislative changes. In 2021, Elsa was cited for the third time in the Global Competition Review (GCR) Women in Antitrust survey as amongst the leading women globally recognised for their standout careers in antitrust. In 2020, GCR named Elsa as one of the world’s top 40 antitrust practitioners under the age of 40, and the only economist named in Asia, in its quadrennial 40 under 40 survey. She was also recognised amongst the 10 competition economists globally in GCR’s Women in Antitrust 2016: Economists. Elsa is noted by Who’s Who Legal to be “the top merger control practitioner in Singapore”, “a leading name in the Singaporean market” and praised for her “analytical and practical approach”, “intelligent and insightful”, and “able to provide her views in concise and readily understood manner”. Elsa is the only economist recognised as a Leading Individual for Asia by Who’s Who Legal Competition: Economists 2021. She is also the only economist cited as a Thought Leader in Asia and Singapore by Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders: Competition 2020 to 2022. The Legal 500 also notes that Elsa has a “wealth of experience”, and is “excellent in addressing client’s questions and good at handling complex issues with care and sensitivity”. She has also been lauded for bringing “a fresh perspective on competition matters from her economist background”. Elsa joined the Firm in 2007. She was previously from the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore, and was also a pioneer member of the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS), now known as the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS).