International law firm Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Gerard A. Hekker has joined the firm’s International Corporate Finance practice as a counsel. He will be based in the firm’s Singapore office. Mr. Hekker’s practice focuses on corporate finance, liability management, mergers and acquisitions and complex restructuring transactions.
Thomas W. Albrecht, managing partner of Sidley’s Asia Pacific region, said, “We are very pleased to welcome Gerard to our team. His experience in a broad range of industries including financial institutions, telecommunications, technology, transportation and infrastructure, mining, forest products, and petrochemicals, power, oil and gas will be an asset to the firm and our clients.”
Mr. Hekker represents issuers and underwriters on equity issuances, as well as high yield and convertible debt issuances (including equity-linked structures) and liability management exercises including exchange offers, tender offers and consent solicitations. He represents both financial and strategic sellers and buyers (including private equity funds) on public and private international M&A and investment transactions. He also represents companies involved in complex corporate restructurings including financings, re-financings and asset-based securitizations. Mr. Hekker’s clients include private companies, financial institutions, governments and government-linked companies throughout the Asia Pacific region and the United States.
”Sidley’s established presence in Asia is well-regarded and offers me an extensive regional and global platform for my practice,” said Mr. Hekker. “Sidley lawyers have worked on some of Asia’s largest and most complex transactions, and this work complements my knowledge base. I think Sidley will be a great fit for me.”
Mr. Hekker is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and conversant in Bahasa Indonesia. Admitted to the Bars in California, England and Wales, Mr. Hekker earned his J.D. from the University of San Francisco Law School and his B.A. from Dartmouth College.
Sidley has had a presence in the Asia Pacific region for nearly 30 years, having opened its first office in the region in Singapore in 1982. The office provides law advice in the fields of corporate law and corporate finance, securities, capital markets, M&A, privatization, securitization, banking and finance, reorganizations, debt and equity restructurings, non-performing loan dispositions and financings, direct investments, investment companies and funds, enforcement of creditors’ rights and investment adviser and broker-dealer regulation. The lawyers also provide international arbitration and litigation services, representing clients across the region on business matters relating to U.S. securities, stock exchange, SFC and other regulatory investigations, IP, insolvency, antitrust, life sciences, construction, insurance, shipping, international trade and employment.
Sidley has one of the largest and most active capital markets practices of any international law firm in Asia Pacific, advising clients on a wide range of matters governed under Hong Kong, U.S. and English law. Since 2009, Sidley has acted on 22 IPOs on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and 17 high-yield debt offerings. The firm’s Asia Pacific practice has been awarded numerous honors, including being named “Most Innovative U.S. Law Firm” by IFLR in 2010.
Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world’s premier full-service law firms, with more than 1600 lawyers practicing in 17 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Sidley is recognized for service and responsiveness. Sidley received the most first-tier national rankings of any U.S. law firm in the inaugural U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” rankings for 2010. BTI, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, has named Sidley as one of only three firms to have been in the top ten of the BTI Client Service rankings every year since the inception of those rankings in 2001, and as number one in three of those years.
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