DFDL Legal & Tax

ESTABLISHED FIRM-WIDE IN 1994, THAILAND OFFICE IN 2005

Total number of professionals: 30 (9 partners)
Principal office: Bangkok
Other offices: Bangladesh, Cambodia*, Lao PDR, Indonesia*, Myanmar, Philippines*, Singapore** and Vietnam
(* DFDL collaborating firms, ** DFDL ASEAN desk)

Key practice areas

Banking, finance & technology; corporate and M&A; energy, mining & infrastructure; labour & employment; real estate; compliance & investigations; tax; restructuring & insolvency

Our services

In 2005, DFDL established a permanent presence in Bangkok to better serve the needs of our growing client base in Thailand. With years of solid local experience, working in conjunction with small and medium businesses, large corporations and major Thai banks and financial institutions, we continue to provide a comprehensive range of integrated legal, tax and consulting services in Thailand, on various types of complex, multi-jurisdiction and cross-border transactions.

Our areas of expertise and core practices include: banking, finance & technology, corporate and commercial, mergers and acquisitions, labour and employment, energy, mining and infrastructure, real estate, compliance and regulatory, tax, restructuring & insolvency and competition.

DFDL prides itself in having distinguished working relationships within our local jurisdictions throughout the Mekong region and beyond. Our presence in all major ASEAN member states and Bangladesh has equipped us with in-depth knowledge of each of these frontier markets and a unique regional presence, allowing us to provide counsel from an international, regional, and local perspective.

Our dedicated professionals are qualified in numerous jurisdictions, able to advice in several languages and have been involved in major projects in Thailand and CLMV region, including electricity projects, aviation, structured financing, telecommunications and IT, infrastructure and large real estate projects. Our Thailand practice continues to grow in size and scope as new streams of work have flown in due to increased capital inflows from China, and to the emergence of a variety of new business models relevant to renewable energy, public-private partnerships, TMT, fintech, healthcare and data protection projects. Heightened levels of infrastructure-related work and factory relocations have driven a lot more M&A activity all requiring the sort of international standard services in this area that we provide.

DFDL Thailand acts as both local and international counsel along with being a key referral partner of international law firms lacking an established local presence that seek to facilitate their clients’ activities in South and Southeast Asia. The Bangkok office is also where a number of DFDL’s regional advisers are based, all with extensive and longstanding experience in complex multi-jurisdictional matters.

Given Thailand’s position as a springboard for foreign corporates wishing to expand their investments into other ASEAN markets, our sector expertise, depth of local knowledge and integrated regional footprint, uniquely position us to offer the international standard services that foreign enterprises demand when operating in some of these frontier markets. The key services offered includes: market entry report, BOI promotion & sector specific licensing, company incorporation & corporate procedures, contract drafting, due diligence, legal & tax structuring advice, negotiation assistance and closing assistance.

Our dedicated international desks, such as China and French desks are staffed by fully qualified native speaking lawyers have also proved to be a successful bridge for companies from those countries seeking to do deals in Thailand and beyond.