FORUM CHAIRPERSON 

Alexander Shaik, Partner, General Counsel, APAC Private Credit, ADM Capital 

Alexander Shaik is a Partner, General Counsel, and observer to the Investment Advisory Committee. Alexander joined ADM Capital in 2005. Alexander has over 20 years of legal and commercial experience working on corporate and structured finance transactions. Alexander has been involved in innovative capital market transactions in most Asian and European jurisdictions. Before joining ADM Capital, Alexander was employed in the Hong Kong office of the US law firm, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, and he has also worked with the Tokyo office of Allen & Overy. Alexander brings valuable structuring, regulatory and legal experience to the ADM Capital team. He received a BA (Hon.) in Law from The University of Melbourne and is admitted to practice in England and Australia.

SPEAKERS PROFILE

Jeremy Lightfoot, Partner and Head of Litigation, Insolvency and Restructuring, Hong Kong, Carey Olsen  

Jeremy is the head of our Dispute Resolution and Litigation practice in the Hong Kong office.

His practice is focused on high-value and complex commercial and corporate litigation, insolvency, and restructuring matters under the laws of Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands.

Who’s Who Legal Litigation notes that Jeremy 'comes highly recommended by peers for his outstanding disputes work and is praised for being “responsive and understanding of what you are looking for”' (2020) and that he has an ‘excellent track record advising clients on complex cross-border matters’ (2019). 

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Henry Tucker, Counsel, Carey Olsen 

Henry joined the firm in 2017 and relocated to our Hong Kong office in August 2019. Prior to his move to Hong Kong, Henry regularly represented clients before the Commercial Court, Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal for Bermuda. His practice covers all aspects of offshore commercial and trust litigation with a specific focus on arbitration, enforcement and insolvency issues, including out-of-court administrative and regulatory disputes.

He also provides non-contentious advice on unique transaction structures, internal regulatory compliance measures and matters involving cross-border enforcement and regulatory risk. 

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John Han, Partner, Kobre & Kim 

John Han is an accomplished litigator and advocate who helps clients achieve business objectives in matters involving Greater China, the U.S., and English common law jurisdictions including the British Virgin Islands. Clients rely on his deep regional business knowledge and bilingual language capabilities.

Mr. Han has acted as lead counsel in a wide range of cross-border disputes involving monetization and demonetization of claims, judgments and arbitral awards in the US$ nine to ten figures both against and on behalf of governments, state-owned enterprises, and multinational corporations. The matters often involve fraud or misconduct. 

He regularly leads large-scale cross-border matters to monetize substantial defaulted PRC loan and guarantee portfolios where assets are concealed through complex offshore structures, trusts, and foundations, and where debtors and decision-makers are found in Europe, EMEA, and the U.S.

Mr. Han has been cited on topics involving cross-border judgment and arbitration award monetization by publications including The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, Global Arbitration Review, Commercial Dispute Resolution, The Boston Globe, Asia Business Law Journal, the Hong Kong Lawyer, and the Business Times. 

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Ben Zhu, Director, Asia Pacific Private Debt, Muzinich & Co.  

Ben Zhu is a Director of Muzinich & Co. Asia Pacific Private Debt, focusing on private debt financing solutions for middle-market companies in the Asia Pacific. Before joining Muzinich in Hong Kong, Ben worked for HSBC Global Loans and Special Situations Group, responsible for Private Debt, Syndicated Loan Trading and Special Situations business in Asia Pacific with a focus on the Greater China opportunities. He also worked for Cowell & Lee, a credit hedge fund based in Hong Kong with a focus on private debt, distressed and special situation opportunities in the Asia Pacific, where he actively involved in debt restructuring. Prior to that, Ben worked for JP Morgan and RBS, in the DCM and leveraged finance team. 

Kurkye Wong, Executive Director, Argyle Street Management Limited (“ASM”)  

Kurkye is the Executive Director at Argyle Street Management Limited (“ASM”), a hedge fund manager founded in 2002 in Hong Kong. Mr Wong specialises in distress and private credit investment in Asia, in particular China, Thailand, and Indonesia. He has previously worked at KPMG and FTI Consulting in Hong Kong. He holds a Special Qualification in Insolvency and is a fellow member of the HKICPA. He holds a Bachelor of Business from the Queensland University of Technology, a Juris Doctor from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and obtained a certificate in a Master’s Degree in Financial Engineering from the Stanford University. 

Kurkye is the Executive Director at Argyle Street Management Limited (“ASM”), a hedge fund manager founded in 2002 in Hong Kong. Mr Wong specialises in distress and private credit investment in Asia, in particular China, Thailand, and Indonesia. He has previously worked at KPMG and FTI Consulting in Hong Kong. He holds a Special Qualification in Insolvency and is a fellow member of the HKICPA. He holds a Bachelor of Business from the Queensland University of Technology, a Juris Doctor from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and obtained a certificate in a Master’s Degree in Financial Engineering from the Stanford University. 

Vaibhav Chadha, Managing Director, Head of Asia Distressed Debt & Special Situations, Cantor Fitzgerald 

Vaibhav runs private debt and distressed debt for Cantor Fitzgerald in Asia. At Cantor, he has led the built-out of distressed loan business in India. Under his leadership, Cantor has traded over ~USD 1.2bn face in India to establish itself as one of the leading trading desks in the region. 

He has also closed many private financings for Indian companies from offshore markets. Vaibhav and his team are now expanding to other regional markets in Asia. 
 
Before joining Cantor, Vaibhav spent 12 years at Axis Bank, across capital markets, origination, and syndication businesses. Vaibhav graduated with an MBA from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi, and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. 
 

Vicky He, Head of Syndicate, North Asia, APAC Strategic Products, Credit Suisse   

Vicky He is the Head of Syndicate for North Asia, focusing on syndication and distribution of private credit financing and structured lending transactions in the region. 

Vicky has a solid background in capital markets and investment banking with experience accumulated in various global financial institutions. Prior to her current role, she worked at Standard Chartered Bank and was responsible for loan syndication and distribution for Greater China opportunities. Before that, she worked in the APAC Leveraged Finance and Syndicated Loans team for Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, having joined the bank’s Global Corporate and Investment Banking team in Sydney since 2008.  

She is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a Master of Commerce (Honors) degree and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Sydney.    

Siddhartha Hari, Head, Financing North Asia & Pacific, Deutsche Bank 

Mr. Hari is Head of Loans and Structured Credit business for Australia, Japan & North Asia, based in Hong Kong. He is also responsible for the Asset Finance vertical for APAC. Prior to this, Mr. Hari ran ECM and Strategic Equity for APAC for Barclays for six years. Before that he worked in Strategic Equity & Credit Structuring for Deutsche Bank in Singapore, having joined DB as an Associate in Global Markets in Mumbai in 2004. 

He also has a strong background in Fixed Income, Fx, Equities, and Derivatives. Mr. Hari holds an MBA in Finance & Economics from the India Institute of Management, Calcutta (2000-2002). 

Ryan Chung, Managing Director and Head of Principal Investment, Huatai International 

Ryan Chung is the head and founder of Huatai International’s private credit investment arm and manages a fund portfolio of over US$1.8 billion in AUM. Ryan has over 20 years of experience in secured private debt, quasi-debt, and private equity investments. He was responsible for an aggregate of US$2.6 billion private capital investments throughout the Asia region across 12 countries.

Prior to Huatai, Ryan was a founding partner of the semi-sovereign China-ASEAN Investment Fund specializing in private equity investments in the ASEAN region. He has also served at the investment banking team of UBS and the structured financing team of Citi. Prior to that, Ryan was a Chartered Civil Engineer in the U.K. and Hong Kong. He earned two master's degrees in Civil Engineering and in Finance from Imperial College London and Cass Business School London respectively.

Sean Pepper, Managing Director, Tor Investment 

Pan-Asia (including Australia/NZ/Japan), value-oriented credit hedge fund investing across the capital structure (senior secured debt, senior debt, high yield bonds, mezzanine/subordinated debt, mezzanine + warrants/equity, convertible bonds), special situations, recapitalization/event/restructured financing, leveraged loans/ acquisition finance, with a credit, low volatility, and sector agnostic focus. Many of our clients are medium-sized businesses with real assets and growth potential.