Biography
Lydia Kong is a partner in the Corporate, Commercial & Securities Practice Group of Wong & Partners and focuses on competition law. She has advised various local and multinational clients on all aspects of competition law, such as compliance, internal audits and investigations as well as international merger control. Lydia's practice is closely aligned with Baker McKenzie's regional antitrust and competition practice, particularly in the area of merger control.
Lydia has been recognised by Legal 500 as a Next Generation Lawyer for M&A in 2019. This was followed with further acknowledgement of her capabilities in Antitrust & Competition by naming her a Next Generation Partner in 2023 and then progressing to a Leading Individual the following year. She is also ranked in Chambers Asia Pacific for Competition/Antitrust.
Prior to returning to the Firm, Lydia worked as in-house counsel of a leading private equity house.
Practice Focus
Lydia complements her competition practice with her knowhow on complex M&A transactions, where she has extensive experience advising clients on numerous cross-border transactions in various industries and has represented a large number of leading multinationals companies, foreign as well as domestic, on both inward and outward-bound transactions.
Representative Legal Matters
- Assisted a global biopharmaceutical company with its response to the Malaysian Competition Commission's (MyCC) request for information in relation to its general pricing practices to its distribution channels in Malaysia.
- Advised a global insurance corporation on its response to the MyCC's request for information in connection with the MyCC’s investigation into price fixing practices relating to spare parts and labour charges for motor claims estimation.
- Advised a US-based financial services corporation with the implementation of its automatic billing updater (ABU) service in Malaysia as an optional service for issuers of MasterCard credit and debit cards. We advised on whether the implementation of the ABU service in Malaysia will infringe the prohibitions against anti-competitive agreements or abuse of dominant position under the Malaysian Competition Act.
- Assisted an international producer and supplier of formwork with conducting a multijurisdictional merger control analysis to ascertain the jurisdictions in which merger filings may be triggered as a result of the group's acquisition of a market leader in monolithic aluminium formwork.
- Assisted a multinational automotive corporation with the review and revision of its antitrust compliance guide on selected vertical restraints to ensure compliance with Malaysian competition law.
- Advised a Singapore subsidiary of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world in connection with competition law issues which may arise from its proposed sales promotion and distribution agreement with a leading European pharmaceutical company in respect of certain products for several ASEAN markets, including Malaysia.
- Reviewed selected template and executed agreements entered into by the Malaysian subsidiary of one of Europe's largest home appliances manufacturers for compliance with Malaysian competition law and advised on the use of spare parts from original equipment manufacturers for repair and maintenance services not covered by warranty terms.
- Advised the local subsidiary of a world-leading manufacturer and marketer of skin care, make-up and fragrance products on the prohibition of sale of parallel import products by its distributors.
- Advised a German luxury car maker on competition law issues arising from its incentive programs with authorised dealers.
Admissions
Barrister-at-Law, Bar of England and Wales (2009)
High Court of Malaya (2010)
Education
The University of Manchester, United Kingdom (LLB) (2008)
King's College London (LL.M. Competition Law) (2013)
Languages
English
Bahasa Malaysia