Cooley has hired David He as a partner in its Singapore office to strengthen the firm’s offering to emerging companies and venture capitalists in the Lion City, South and Southeast Asia and Greater China.
“There is rapid growth and disruptive innovation in the market, where fast-growing, disruptive companies require continuous legal support across their entire life cycle, from the early stages to pre-IPO,” Andrew Harline, partner in charge at Singapore for Cooley, told Asia Business Law Journal.
Harline said this demands counsel for evolving business models, funding rounds and strategic exits, along with critical board advisory and corporate governance.
To address these developments, the firm would leverage He’s extensive experience in cross-border transactions, life cycle representation for high-growth companies, and regional market insight and connections, said Harline.
He joins the firm from Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian’s Singapore office, where he practised as a partner. His practice covers the life cycle of high-growth emerging companies, from pre-seed rounds through to pre-initial public offerings (IPO). He brings more than a decade of experience advising venture capital and private equity funds, as well as startups and technology companies across the world.
He has advised hundreds of venture-backed transactions, guiding venture capital and private equity funds, startups, and technology companies across the US, India, China, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Australia and throughout Southeast Asia. He regularly represents emerging companies incorporated in Singapore, the US, the Cayman Islands and other jurisdictions, with operating entities worldwide.
His areas of practice also include cross-border equity and debt financings, buy-side and sell-side acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructurings and general corporate governance.
At Cooley, He would focus on advising high-growth emerging companies from pre-seed through pre-IPO stages, counselling investment funds, handling a wide range of cross-border transactions, such as equity and debt financings, acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate restructurings, and providing board advisory and corporate governance services, said Harline.
