Overview
Jon has 20 years of experience advising underwriters, issuers, investors and trustees across Asia. He acts on the full range of capital markets products, including equity-linked issues (hybrid, exchangeable and convertible bonds), regulatory capital, private and pre-IPO credit, straight debt and medium-term-note (MTN) programmes.
Major financial institutions and corporates regularly trust Jon and the team to advise on complex equity-linked transactions. In recent years he has worked on the vast majority of international convertible or exchangeable bonds from Southeast Asian and Australian corporates.
For several years, Jon has been involved in digital asset developments across Asia. He has advised on several Asia-based digital offerings and platform establishments and has been actively involved in Linklaters’ approach to the application of blockchain and automation to Asia capital markets. He is recognised as one of the innovative leaders in this new and growing space. Clients have praised Jon for "his thought leadership and cutting-edge advice."
Jon is also a trusted advisor for banks and financial institutions across Asia Pacific, particularly in regard to regulatory capital and LIBOR transition, with long-standing clients including DBS, UOB, OCBC, Standard Chartered, HSBC, UBS, Maybank and Bank Rakyat Indonesia.
Jon was appointed the National Managing Partner for Singapore in 2022 and before moving to Singapore, he was based in the firm’s Hong Kong SAR office for over 10 years.
Experience
Jon has advised on many of the region’s most significant capital markets deals in recent years, including advising:
Equity-linked transactions
- the manager in connection with the issue of SGD 370m secured exchangeable bonds exchangeable into ESR by Straits Trading Company.
- the managers in connection with the issue of Seven Group Holdings’s AUD 250m secured exchangeable notes exchangeable into Boral Limited and concurrent repurchase of outstanding convertible bonds.
- the managers on the issue of €240m zero coupon guaranteed convertible Bonds by SGX.
- the joint lead managers on Xero Limited’s US$300m convertible bonds incorporating a Call Spread Overlay. This is the first time this innovative structure has been used by an Australian-listed issuer.
- the lead manager on Dexus’s AUD 500m guaranteed exchangeable notes and concurrent repurchase of outstanding convertible notes.
- the convertible and exchangeable bond issuances for Centuria Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust, OUE, Zip Limited, Khazanah, Singha Estate, CPF Holdings, Indorama, SMIC and Cromwell Property.
Debt and MTN transactions
- the arrangers for Export Finance Australia’s establishment of the US$2.5bn debt programme and subsequent 144A US dollar issuance.
- DBS Bank on its Global Medium Term Note and Covered Bond Programmes.
- Scentre’s US$3bn subordinated hybrid notes issued in two tranches with six and 10-year maturities.
- the global coordinator, bookrunner and the trustee on the issuance of Adani Green Energy’s US$500m co-issuer secured green bonds.
- MTN programmes and subsequent bond offerings by Australian corporates including Bluescope, Ausgrid, Pacific National, Mirvac, Computershare, Lend Lease, Vicinity Centres, Aurizon Network, SEEK.com and Stockland.
Digital assets and capital markets transformation
- Bondevalue on the establishment of the Bondblox Bond Exchange and ongoing advice. The Exchange was a winner of the MAS Singapore Financial Institution Award 2022.
- DBS Bank on the establishment of its automated fixed income execution platform, DBS FIX Marketplace – a winner of the Euromoney Global Financial Innovation of the Year and Finance Asia – most innovative use of technology in Singapore.
- The Government of Hong Kong SAR on its HK$800m green tokenised bond – the world’s first tokenized government green bond.
- Zilliqa Research on its successful digital securities offering in 2017/2018 and subsequent expansion plans – one of the first initial token offerings in Asia that was executed to conventional capital markets standards.
Admissions