Morrison Foerster Expands Asia Private Equity Capabilities with Addition of Steven Tran in Singapore

SINGAPORE (January 3, 2023) – Morrison Foerster, a leading global law firm, today announced that Steven Tran has joined the firm as a partner in its Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions Groups in Singapore. His arrival further strengthens and deepens the firm’s Asia and global private equity offerings. Morrison Foerster is ranked in Band 1 for Private Equity in the latest edition of Chambers Asia-Pacific. Tran’s addition also highlights the continued expansion of Morrison Foerster’s global private equity capabilities in recent years. The firm has added 20 private equity partners globally since 2019 through lateral additions and promotions.

Tran has extensive experience advising global and Asia-based private equity funds and their portfolio companies, as well as multinational corporations operating in the Asia-Pacific region, on their complex cross-border private equity and M&A transactions. He counsels clients across a wide range of sectors, including consumer, technology, real estate, professional services, and manufacturing.

“Steve is a highly regarded private equity and M&A practitioner in the region. He is a fantastic addition to our private equity team in Singapore at a time when we continue to see strong demand from clients for private equity advice with a Southeast Asia nexus,” said Marcia Ellis, global chair of Morrison Foerster’s Private Equity Group. “Steve’s extensive experience advising on multi-jurisdictional transactions across the Asia-Pacific region is highly synergistic with our clients’ needs, and his in-depth knowledge of multiple sectors will further deepen our private equity and M&A offering in Singapore.”

Some of Tran’s representative matters include advising a Southeast Asian sovereign wealth fund on its commercial and residential real estate co-investment in Vietnam; a global private equity fund on its proposed acquisition of a Singapore fintech company; Tricor Group, a former portfolio company of Permira, on the restructuring of its Vietnam and Thailand operations, and its acquisitions of Richful Deyong, Madison Pacific Group, and a Japanese business services company; and the founder of Hop Lun Group, an international fashion lingerie and swimwear company with operations in Indonesia, Bangladesh, China, and Hong Kong, on his sale of a controlling stake to Platinum Equity.

“Morrison Foerster’s stellar reputation across Asia and the caliber of its exceptional global private equity platform were major draws for me, and will provide tremendous opportunities for supporting my clients,” said Tran. “I am thrilled to join the firm’s dynamic Singapore office, and to work with my new colleagues in Asia, and globally, to advise our clients on their most complex multi-jurisdictional private equity and M&A transactions.”

Morrison Foerster’s Singapore office, one of the firm’s five offices in Asia, recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. In the last decade, our Southeast Asia hub, led by office managing partner Shirin Tang, has grown significantly and now hosts 25 lawyers who advise clients on acquisition finance and leveraged buy-outs, cross-border M&A, data privacy and cybersecurity, dispute resolution, including arbitration and litigation, energy, infrastructure, and project finance, FCPA and other anti-corruption laws, fintech and e-commerce, fund formation, insurance, investigations and regulatory compliance, private equity, real estate, strategic alliances and joint ventures, and venture capital, start-ups, and emerging companies. Leading legal directory The Legal 500 named Morrison Foerster “Law Firm of the Year - Singapore” in 2020 and 2021.

Tran earned his LL.B. and B.A. from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and is admitted to practice in New South Wales, Hong Kong, and England and Wales. He is fluent in English, Vietnamese, and Japanese. Tran previously practiced in Hong Kong and Sydney and spent four years in Tokyo, where he helped establish and develop the Japan corporate practice of another global law firm.