Singapore’s Business Times reports that the Singapore law firm WongPartnership has entered into a strategic alliance with Foong & Partners.

The article quotes the managing partners of both firms:

“This tie-up was driven mostly by the fact that a lot of the work we do today (corporate transactions in Singapore) tends to have a Malaysian component – whether it be an IPO (initial public offering), M&A (mergers and acquisitions) or private equity (PE) deal – because the target may have a business in Malaysia, or the clients may be interested in looking at something in Malaysia, and so on,” WongP’s joint managing partner, Ng Wai King, told The Business Times in an exclusive interview.

Mr Ng said that WongP has been collaborating with Malaysian lawyers on such transactions, including the Temasek Holdings and Khazanah Nasional Berhad joint development in Singapore, the IHH Healthcare Berhad IPO and the Khazanah/Fortis competing takeover offer for Parkway Holdings.

“We find that the need to work and collaborate with strong Malaysian lawyers has become more important now than ever before. Finding the right Malaysian lawyer with the right expertise is very important.

“We have worked alongside FoongP on a number of transactions, including Tune Ins Holdings Bhd’s recent initial public offering, and we found a shared ethos of delivering unstinting high-quality service to our clients,” Mr Ng said.

Foong Chee Meng, managing partner of FoongP, which focuses on high-end corporate commercial, capital markets and corporate finance work, added: “There are a lot of Malaysian clients who are expanding, looking to invest not just in Singapore, but in the UK and Australia, and they’re very aggressive in their expansion. I find that, in most cases, I’ve had to help them and also refer foreign law firms to them. I’ve gone through quite a number of foreign law firms as well and I’ve always enjoyed working with WongP. It makes sense to work a lot closer than before, to have a formal association, whereby we give each other the attention, the priority and the preference.

“Instead of just saying to a client, ‘Look, I think that law firm is good’, I can now say, with a lot of confidence and assurance, that they will get the best service (with WongP). And, if there are any issues, I can just pick up the phone, and so can Wai King; we can call each other and resolve any issues.”

This alliance adds to a growing list of Singapore-Malaysia law firm tie-ups:

1. Allen & Gledhill is associated with Rahmat Lim & Partners.

2. Rajah and Tann is associated with Christopher & Lee Ong.

3. Baker & McKenzie has its Singapore firm Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow and Malaysian firm Wong & Partners.

4.  Oon & Bazul is associated with T S Oon & Partners.

5. KhattarWong also has a cooperation agreement with KK Chong & Co.