Biography
May Chua is a partner in the Corporate, Commercial & Securities Practice Group of Wong & Partners. Prior to joining Wong & Partners in 2010, she worked as legal assistant in the corporate conveyancing department of another law firm. She has been recognised as a Next Generation Partner by Legal 500 Asia Pacific for Real Estate & Construction, and is ranked in Chambers Asia Pacific for the Real Estate category.
Practice Focus
May's practice is focused on advising foreign and Malaysian clients on various real estate matters, including real property acquisitions, leasing and tenancies, property development and compliance matters. She also advises on general corporate and commercial matters as well as company secretarial matters. May has undertaken numerous transactions relating to cross-border mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures in Malaysia.
Representative Legal Matters
- Advised a global leader in optical solutions and semiconductor manufacturing in the proposed sale, sublease, and leaseback transactions between the client and Malaysian institutional investors for a transaction value of about MYR 2 billion.
- Advised and assisted a global cloud-enabling service company catering to data center operators with the acquisition of lands in a Free Industrial Zone in Johor, Malaysia. The transaction is the client's first investment into Malaysia and they have invested a further MYR 90 million approximately for the construction of a facility on the lands for the purposes of its operations in Malaysia including manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.
- Advised a major Chinese developer, in connection with its proposed acquisition of an interest in approximately 1,000 acres of land located in Sepang from two leading Malaysian corporates. We further advised on arrangements to be entered into with the relevant Malaysian corporates for the joint development of the said lands.
- Acted for the Digital Bridge Group on the acquisition of 49% of the issued ordinary shares and 100% of the irredeemable convertible preference shares in AIMS Data Centre Holding Sdn. Bhd., and the subsequent internal reorganisation undertaken post-completion.
- Advised and assisted GDS IDC Services (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, the Malaysian subsidiary of GDS Holdings (GDS), in its MYR 60 million acquisition of a lot of industrial land from Nusajaya Tech Park Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between CapitaLand and UEM Sunrise. GDS is one of China's largest carrier-neutral data center operators, and this transactions marks its first land acquisition in Malaysia to make way for the expansion of the client’s operations in Malaysia.
- Advised and assisted the Malaysian subsidiary of a leading Hong Kong-listed global paper manufacturer with multiple transactions for the acquisition of industrial lands in Selangor of approximately 240 acres for a total purchase price of approximately MYR 546 million.
- Advised a major China-based coating solutions provider, in connection with the purchase of 300 acres of freehold industrial land located in the state of Kedah (Sale Land) from Highlands & Lowlands Berhad and Sime Darby Property (Bukit Selarong) Sdn Bhd. The Sale Land is earmarked for the milestone development of the Green Paper Industry Park. The MYR 1.2 billion green project is the first of its kind in Malaysia and is slated to provide 1,300 job opportunities for its citizens.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Malaysian Bar
- Kuala Lumpur Bar
Admissions
Malaysia (2005)
Education
University of Sheffield, UK (Degree of Law) (2003)
Certificate in Legal Practice (2004)
Languages
English
Bahasa Malaysia
Publications
Author, When does time for delivery of vacant possession of property start? The Star (Property), Oct 2019