Dr Yang Qiu

Director
yang.qiu@fortelaw.com
+65 6505 0210

+65 8282 6371

Dual qualified lawyer (Singapore and the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”)) with expertise in capital markets transactions, post-listing compliance, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, funds (including Variable Capital Companies), private wealth management (including Single Family Offices’ setting up and 130 tax incentive’s application), employment laws, personal data protection, company incorporation and general corporate advisory.

Leveraging her knowledge of both the Chinese and Singapore legal, regulatory, and business landscapes, Dr Qiu regularly works with international clients on transactions in China as well as Chinese clients within and beyond China. She focuses on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets, including initial public offerings, reverse takeovers, general offers, major acquisitions, corporate restructuring and dual-listing transactions. She assists clients in setting up renminbi (RMB) private equity funds, establishing joint ventures and acquiring commercial properties and business operations in China and other jurisdictions. In addition, Dr Qiu is experienced in advising on corporate governance and post-listing compliance matters from a Singapore law perspective.

During the course of her 16 years of legal practice in Singapore, Dr Qiu has retained a list of loyal clients (including but not limited to various companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and NASDAQ stock exchange) under long term legal retainers. She is the trusted legal adviser for many of her clients, whether for compliance matters, transactional work or to ensure that their interests are safeguarded.

Prior to joining Forte Law LLC in April 2024, Dr Qiu had developed her legal practice across two major stints. Dr Qiu started her legal career with Morgan Lewis Stamford LLC (a Singapore legal practice that merged with an international law firm – Morgan Lewis & Bockius) where she practiced for nine years continuously from January 2008 to December 2016. She then joined Insights Law LLC (which was known as ZICO Insights Law LLC at that time) in January 2017 and had practised there for more than seven years until end of March 2024.

Dr Qiu is a dual qualified lawyer – (i) she is a registered foreign lawyer permitted to practice corporate and commercial Singapore law (under Section 36B of the Legal Profession Act 1966 of Singapore), and (ii) she is legally qualified in the PRC. She is also a chartered secretary in Singapore.

Fluent in English, Mandarin and Shanghainese, Dr Qiu frequently contributes to legal publications in both Chinese and English. She also acted as an interpreter from Shanghainese to English and vice versa for the State Courts of Singapore.

Dr Qiu graduated from Fudan University (Shanghai, PRC) with a Bachelor of Laws (scholarship). She obtained her Master of Laws and her PhD in Law (scholarship) from the National University of Singapore.

Dr Qiu is member of the Law Society of Singapore’s Compensation Fund Committee. She is also a member of Law Society of Singapore and Singapore Academy of Law.

Dr Qiu is an associate member of the Chartered Secretaries Institute of Singapore and the Institute
of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (Singapore Division).

Dr Qiu is recognized as one of the winners of “LegalOne Stellar Accolade Southeast Asia 2024” (https://www.legaloneglobal.com/articles/a-1712738184242).

Significant Matters

Advised Hengyang Petrochemical Logistics Limited (“Hengyang”) (SGX Catalist Board) with its successful completion of the acquisitions of 94.8033% of the equity interest in Nanrong Petrochemical Co., Ltd. （南荣石油化学有限公司）and 100% of the equity interest in Nanrong Petrochemical Industry (Jiangyin) Co., Ltd. （南荣石油化工（江阴）有限公司）(collectively “Nanrong Group Companies”) from an independent third party vendor for a total consideration of RMB600,000,000 (equivalent to approximately S$116,541,061) (the “Acquisitions”). The Acquisitions, grouped together, were classified as a “major transaction” under Chapter 10 of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited Listing Manual Section B: Rules of Catalist (the “Catalist Rules”) read together with Practice Note 10A of the Catalist Rules. The Acquisitions have been formally completed on 30 June 2023. The transaction received LegalOne Merits (Exemplary) award in February 2024.
Advised Hengyang’s acquisitions of 49% and 21% of the equity interest in Odfjell Nangang Terminals (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. (天津南港奥德费尔码头仓储有限公司), a Chinese joint venture company, from two independent third party vendors, being (i) Odfjell Terminals Asia Pte. Ltd. and (ii) Tianjin Nangang Industrial Zone Ports Co., Ltd. （天津南港工业区港务有限公司）for an aggregate consideration of up to RMB24,750,000 (or equivalent to approximately S$5,079,945) (the “Acquisitions”). The Acquisitions, grouped together, are classified as a “major transaction” as defined under the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited Listing Manual Section B: Rules of Catalist (the “Catalist Rules”) read together with Practice Note 10A of the Catalist Rules. This transaction received LegalOne Merits (Remarkable) Award in July 2023.
Advised AVIC International Investments Limited (SGX Main Board listed) in its acquisition of the entire issued and paid-up share capital of Deltamarin Oy for an aggregate consideration of approximately Euro32 million via a competitive bidding process.
Advised LESSO Group (Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed) in its acquisition of Aliaxis SA’s business in Singapore.
Assisted AVIC International Maritime Holdings Limited (“AIMHL”) (SGX Main Board switched to SGX Catalist Board) with its general legal work in Singapore, including its post-listing compliance, corporate governance and mergers and acquisitions from 2011 till its privatization in 2020. In particular, advised AIMHL’s takeover and privatization in 2019 and 2020. The deal is in regards to a pre-conditional voluntary general offer (“Pre-Conditional VGO”) by China Merchants Industry Investment Limited (“Offeror”) for all the issued and paid-up ordinary shares in the capital of the AIMHL. The formal offer is valued at over SGD 31.6 million. This is a deal noted by The Business Times as one of the ‘Key M&A Deals of 2019’. The Offeror is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Industry Holdings Co., Ltd., which is a central state-owned enterprise based in Hong Kong SAR and a leading offshore engineering equipment and service provider
Advised Huan Hsin Holdings Ltd (“Huan Hsin”) (SGX Main Board listed)’s directed delisting from SGX-ST in accordance with Rule 1315 of the Listing Manual and the Delisting Notification. The joint offer announcement was released via SGXNet in April 2020 and the offer document was released in May 2020. Huan Hsin was successfully delisted from the Official List of the SGX-ST following the completion of the compulsory acquisition exercise by the offeror in August 2020.
Advised The Place Holdings Limited (SGX Main Board listed) its general legal work in Singapore, including its post-listing compliance, corporate governance and M&As advisory work from 2020 to 2023.
Assisted Sino Grandness Food Industry Group Limited (SGX Main Board listed) with its general legal work in Singapore, including its post-listing compliance and corporate governance since January 2022.
Advised DH Wealth Management Pte. Ltd. (“DH”), being the MAS licensed fund manager with the launch of a sub-fund No.1, DH Investment Property Fund (“DHIPF”), under Capital Management Partners Fund VCC (“CMPF VCC”) (an umbrella variable capital company).
Advised a Malaysia based family on its Single-Family Office (“SFO”) formation and the subsequent tax incentive (13O) application with MAS.
Directly involved in various successful IPOs on SGX as the issuer’s legal counsel, including the listings of (i) Hengyang Petrochemical Logistics Limited (SGX Catalist Board) (2009), (ii) Passion Holdings Limited (SGX Main Board) (2009), (iii) Changjiang Fertilizer Holdings Limited (SGX Main Board) (2009), (iv) AVIC International Investment Limited (SGX Main Board, by way of transfer of listing status) (2011) and (v) TalkMed Group Limited (SGX Catalist Board) (2014).