James Clayton-Payne, a mergers and acquisitions lawyer, advises on complex cross-border M&A and joint venture transactions across all sectors in Asia and the Middle East.

James has been resident in Asia since 2010, and in Singapore since 2012, where he advises infrastructure, venture capital, and buyout funds, as well as corporates and founders. He helps clients on:

  • Energy and infrastructure
  • Natural resources
  • TMT
  • Private equity
  • Venture capital

James helps clients investing in jurisdictions from the Middle East to Australia navigate the unique legal and regulatory regimes in the region, having successfully executed transactions across 30 countries.

He complements his regional focus with a real understanding of his clients requirements, drawn from in-house secondments in London and Hong Kong at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Morgan Stanley.

James’ representative work includes advising:

Energy and Infrastructure

  • I Squared Capital on the acquisition of Philippine Coastal Storage & Pipeline Corp, the largest independent import terminal in the Philippines, from Keppel Infrastructure Trust and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation
  • Global Network, Inc. (GNI) on a joint venture between Miescor Infrastructure Development Corporation and Phil-Tower Consortium
  • ib vogt, a leading utility-scale solar development platform, on its joint venture with AC Energy Corp (ACEN) to set up a platform to fund the construction and operation of large-scale solar power plants and battery storage assets across Asia
  • Keppel Infrastructure Trust and Keppel Asian Investments on their Asian investments
  • Evolution Data Centres on its:
    • Investment by Warburg Pincus to create an Asian data center platform and subsequent joint ventures with:
      • Central Pattana PCL, one of the largest property developers in Thailand, to design, build and operate a state-of-the-art carrier-neutral data centre in central Bangkok
      • Megawide Construction Corp, a Philippines-based infrastructure and engineering firm, to build, operate and develop data centres
  • Public Investment Fund (PIF) on the acquisition of Zain’s 8,069 telco towers and associated infrastructure units in Saudi Arabia
  • Pinnacle Towers on its pan-Asian telco towers joint venture with KKR and subsequent towers M&A investments*
  • PETRONAS on Saudi Aramco’s US$8 billion investment in the RAPID Refinery in Johor
  • PTTEP on its:
    • Acquisition of a 25.5% equity stake in the Seagreen offshore wind farm from TotalEnergies, for a consideration of £522 million
    • Acquisition of Partex Holding B.V. from Lisbon-based Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation*
    • Various upstream and downstream oil and gas investments and divestments in Southeast Asia*
  • PTTEP Sarawak Oil Limited (a subsidiary of PTTEP) in connection with a strategic disposal of a minority participating interest in an upstream oil and gas block in Sarawak, Malaysia, to a subsidiary of Petronas
  • PLDT on the divestment and restructuring of certain digital infrastructure assets in the Philippines
  • SDIC on its acquisition of Batang Toru hydro plant in Indonesia
  • A Japanese bidder on the auction process for Altimonan power in the Philippines*
  • Pertamina on its strategic M&A opportunities in Asia
  • Vena Energy on certain renewables joint ventures in the Philippines*
  • Sarawak Energy on a renewables joint venture for a hydropower plant in Indonesia*
  • A consortium of bidders on its bid for the National Power Park power assets in Pakistan*
  • A Thai wind renewable power producer with respect to its sale process*
  • GPSC and B. Grimm on their power investments in Bangladesh*
  • BP on its Indonesian oil storage facility joint venture with the Bakries*
  • An Indonesian company on its sale of an interest in its data center business*
  • The financiers in respect of Solusi Tunas Pratama’s acquisition of telecommunication towers from XL Axiata in Indonesia*

Natural Resources

  • MIND ID on its:
    • Acquisition of a 20% interest in PT Vale (PTVI), the largest nickel producer in Indonesia, from Vale Canada and Sumitomo*; and its subsequent acquisition of an increased shareholding from 20% to 34% in PT Vale (PTVI)
    • Strategic M&A and joint venture opportunities in Indonesia*
  • The Government of Indonesia on its smelter and refinery joint ventures in Indonesia*
  • A family office on the sale of a coal mine in Indonesia to a Chinese state-owned enterprise and establishment of a mine mouth independent power producer*
  • Indika on its mining investments in Indonesia*
  • An international commodities house on the disposal of its palm oil business in Indonesia*

Private Equity

  • An infrastructure fund on its investment into an Asia-based subsea cable installation and operating company
  • Investcorp on its acquisition of a majority interest in Viz Branz, a distributor of F&B brands across China and Southeast Asia*
  • I Squared Capital on its acquisition of a majority interest in cloud computing companies Mateen Cloud Ventures and Infofabrica Holdings*
  • Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) on its acquisition of a minority interest in CLP India Private Limited*
  • Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan on its investment into Spandana, an Indian microfinance company*
  • An infrastructure fund on its acquisition of a waste-to-energy power plant in Korea*
  • An infrastructure fund on its acquisition of an Indonesian telco towers company*
  • An infrastructure fund on establishing an LNG delivery and storage business in Indonesia*
  • An infrastructure fund on establishing an LNG delivery and storage business in Singapore*
  • An infrastructure fund on its establishment of an Indian LNG delivery platform*
  • An infrastructure fund on its bid for Coastal Oil and Gas storage in the Philippines*
  • An infrastructure fund on its strategic solar power joint ventures across Southeast Asia, Korea, and India*
  • NewQuest Capital Partners on its secondary acquisition of a portfolio of investments*
  • Standard Chartered Private Equity on its investments and exits in Southeast Asia*
  • Goldman Sachs PIA and SSA on its investments in Asia*
  • General Electric on the sale of its Indian commercial lending and leasing business to a consortium backed by AION Capital Partners*
  • Everstone Capital Partners on the purchase of C3/CustomerContactChannels Holdings*
  • Barings on its investment into Cath Kidston retail*

Venture Capital

  • Vertex Growth Fund on its US$15 million Series C investment in Validus, an online aggregator platform that connects borrowers and lenders and provides financing to SMEs
  • Vertex Growth Management in its investment in the series A1 preferred share financing of Taurus One Private Limited, an e-commerce logistics solutions company
  • Twain Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing precision IL-2/15 therapies for cancer, on its Series A fundraising round
  • Tybourne Capital Management on a US$96 million Series C investment into Kopi Kenangan, Indonesia’s fastest growing New Retail F&B chain
  • RUMA and its substantial shareholder GoTo (via its vehicles PT Dompet Karya Anak Bangsa and PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa) on a US$8.5 million Series A financing in RUMA, an Indonesian e-commerce company
  • A Hong Kong-based investor on its Series B investment into a Bangladesh e-commerce company*
  • Gojek on its:
    • Series A fundraise for GoPlay*
    • Series C investment into Linkaja, an Indonesian e-wallet company*
    • E-commerce joint venture arrangements with JD.com*
    • Cloud kitchen joint venture with Rebel Foods*
    • Various joint venture formations and unwinds in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia*
    • Sale of its Thai business to AirAsia and investment into AirAsia’s Malaysian superapp
  • PTT on its Series B+ investment into Sunfolding, a US solar engineering company*
  • Jungle Ventures on its Series A investment into Deskera, a Southeast Asian technology company*

FIG M&A and Bancassurance

  • Standard Chartered on its exclusive pan-Asian life insurance bancassurance arrangements with Prudential*
  • DBS on its exclusive pan-Asian life insurance bancassurance arrangements with ManuLife*
  • Citi on its exclusive pan-Asian life insurance bancassurance arrangements with AIA*
  • CIMB on its bancassurance arrangements in South East Asia*
  • Sun Life on its bancassurance arrangements in Indonesia*
  • Friends Provident International on its bancassurance arrangements in Singapore*
  • A Thai bank on exiting its bancassurance arrangements in Thailand*
  • Zurich Insurance on its tied agency and distribution arrangements in Singapore*
  • Royal Sun Alliance on its acquisition of a non-life insurance company and associated bancassurance arrangements in Malaysia*
  • AXA on the acquisition of HSBC’s non-life Asian insurance business and related bancassurance arrangements*
  • Friends Provident PLC on its:
    • UK public takeover by Resolution*
    • Demerger of Foreign and Colonial (F&C)*
  • Avicennia (Khazanah Nasional) on its strategic insurance M&A in SE Asia*
  • A Singapore bank on its bid for Coutts’ private banking business in Asia*
  • Bank of Montreal on its acquisition of Canadian Bank of Commerce’s private wealth management business in Hong Kong and Singapore*

*Matter handled prior to joining Latham

Bar Qualification

  • England and Wales (Solicitor)

Education

  • LPC, Oxford Institute of Legal Practice
  • GDL, Oxford Brookes University
  • BA, Durham University
    First Class Honours