Arfat Selvam

Managing Director

  • Arfat Selvam
  • Phone: +65 6311 0031

    Import to Address Book

  • Duane Morris & Selvam LLP
    16 Collyer Quay #17-00
    Singapore 049318

Selvam LLC
16 Collyer Quay #17-00
Singapore 049318

Arfat Selvam is Managing Director of Duane Morris & Selvam LLP and Selvam LLC. Mrs. Selvam practices in the area of corporate law.

Mrs Selvam has over fifty years' experience in corporate finance having been at the forefront of the development of the financial services and capital markets in Singapore. Her wide array of experience includes mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructures, takeovers, funds raising in the capital markets, privatisations, financial services, cross border investments, financial services and international joint ventures.

Mrs Selvam has been closely involved in the legal changes driving the legal financial services sectors in Singapore. She was a member of the Company Law Reform Committee, which made major recommendations affecting the companies and securities laws in Singapore. Mrs Selvam has been cited in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2018 edition as a recommended lawyer in Corporate and M&A – Local Firms in Singapore.

Mrs. Selvam was president of The Law Society of Singapore in 2003 and a former Director of the Stock Exchange of Singapore Limited. She was also a member of the Senate of the Academy of Law, the Board of Legal Education, and was formerly on the Board of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. She is a director of Pro Bono SG (formerly known as Law Society Pro Bono Services).

She was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in 1969.

In Singapore, Duane Morris Singapore LLP and Selvam LLC operate a Joint Law Venture serving clients throughout Asia, Duane Morris & Selvam LLP, pursuant to Licence 2/2010 granted by the Attorney General of Singapore.

To the extent that the representative matters listed above fall outside the context of "permitted areas of legal practice" within the meaning of Section 36A of the Legal Profession Act (Chap. 161), they have been conducted by the abovenamed lawyer in his/her capacity as an Advocate & Solicitor of Selvam LLC, a Singapore law practice of the Joint Law Venture.

Representative Matters

  • Represented PT Apexindo Pratama Duta Tbk, an Indonesian listed company in an international arbitration relating to an oil and gas dispute.

  • Advising Heineken on its US$4.1 billion bid for Asia Pacific Breweries Limited, acquiring an additional 40 percent stake in the joint venture from its partners, Fraser & Neave Ltd, a Singapore-based conglomerate.

  • Advising HSBC on the sale of its Singapore general insurance businesses to French insurer AXA Group, as part of HSBC's wider multi-jurisdictional disposal of its general insurance businesses in Hong Kong, Singapore, Argentina and Mexico in a split deal to AXA Group and Australian insurer QBE.

  • Advising AIA on the restructuring and transfer of its Singapore life and general insurance business from a branch office to a wholly owned subsidiary incorporated in Singapore, through a scheme of transfer under Section 49FB of the Insurance Act of Singapore.

  • Advising DBS Bank in its S$1.6-billion acquisition of POSBank from the Ministry of Finance.

  • Advising Keppel Capital Holdings Ltd in the S$1.85-billion takeover offer by Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd for all its issued shares and outstanding listed warrants.

Admissions

  • Singapore

Honors and Awards

  • Recognized in Banking and Finance by The Best Lawyers in Singapore since 2019; recognized by The Best Lawyers in Singapore since 2008

  • Recognized in Mergers and Acquisitions Law by The Best Lawyers in Singapore since 2018; recognized by The Best Lawyers in Singapore since 2008

  • Recognized in Private Funds by The Best Lawyers in Singapore since 2009; recognized by The Best Lawyers in Singapore since 2008

  • Recognized in Mutual Funds by The Best Lawyers in Singapore since 2009; recognized by The Best Lawyers in Singapore since 2008

  • Recognized in the area of Corporate Law by The Best Lawyers in Singapore since 2008

  • Appointed as the Law Society Pro Bono Ambassador 2017/2018

  • Listed in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2018 - Recommended Lawyer in Corporate and M&A - Local Firms

  • Listed in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2017 - Recommended Lawyer in Corporate and M&A - Foreign Firms and Projects (including Energy) in Singapore and Myanmar respectively

  • Winner of Law Society of Singapore's CC Tan Award, 2015
  • Listed in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2016 for Capital Markets - Local Firms, Corporate and M&A - Foreign Firms and Corporate and M&A - Local Firms
  • Winner of Southeast Asia Deal of the Year- Asian Legal Business Southeast Asia Law Awards 2013
  • Leading Firm 2013 - The Legal 500, Asia Pacific
  • M&A Leading Firm 2012 - Asian Legal Business
  • Singaporean Islamic Finance Firm of the Year, 2012 - ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL
  • Recognised in Deals of the Year, 2012 - ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL
  • "One to Watch" 2012 - Asian Legal Business
  • Shortlisted for "Managing Partner of the Year" award in the ALB Southeast Asia Law Awards 2012
  • Named to Asian Legal Business Hot 100, 2011

Experience

  • Duane Morris & Selvam LLP/ Selvam LLC