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Nicholas Chong is a partner in Rodyk & Davidson LLP's Corporate Practice Group.

Nicholas graduated from National University of Singapore with LLB (Honours) in 1991. He was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor in Singapore in 1992, as an Advocate and Solicitor in Malaysia in 1996 and as a Solicitor in England and Wales in 2003.

Nicholas is a corporate and capital markets lawyer, with a focus on real estate investment trusts (REITs), debt capital markets and structured products. In addition to Singapore, he has worked in London (with a Magic Circle firm) and Malaysia.

Nicholas has advised underwriters and REITs on initial public offerings (IPOs), real estate acquisitions and disposals, equity fund raising exercises (including rights issues), convertible bonds, establishments of, and drawdowns under, medium term note programmes, bank financing transactions (both secured and unsecured) and securitisations.

He has advised arrangers, dealers and issuers on bank regulatory capital issues; mainly tier one, hybrid tier one and tier two securities to meet core capital requirements, with predominantly European Union issuers. He has also advised a Malaysian bank on the first Singapore dollar denominated, Singapore law governed, innovative tier one regulatory issue by a non-Singapore issuer that was also a benchmark issue.

Nicholas has advised arrangers, dealers and issuers on convertible bonds, standalone debt issues, the establishment and updates of, and drawdowns under, both Euro and non-Euro medium term note programmes, with issuers ranging from banks, corporates to regional governments.

He has advised arrangers on the establishment and updates of, and drawdowns under, limited recourse secured debt issuance programmes using special purpose vehicle issuers, as well as repackagings, primarily, repackagings of bank tier one and/or hybrid issues (comprising partnership interest offerings as well as debt security offerings), both standalones and under structured note programmes of SPV issuers.

He has advised arrangers, dealers and issuers on both retail and non-retail offerings of structured notes. Notable highlights include advising on the first retail standalone CDO (collateralised debt obligation) in Singapore; the first retail structured note programme in Singapore; the first retail drawdown under a structured note programme; the first continuously issued structured note under a retail structured note programme.

He has advised on mandatory general offers, initial public offerings, rights issues, private placements for equity issuers listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited. Notably, he has advised the Stock Exchange of Singapore Limited and Singapore International Monetary Exchange Limited in relation to their demutualisation and merger with the Singapore Exchange Limited.

Nicholas has been named as a Leading Individual (Band 2) in the Capital Markets category in (a) Chambers Asia-Pacific 2012 and Chambers Global 2012, and has been cited as 'a brilliant and extremely hard-working REITs lawyer', (b) Chambers Asia-Pacific 2011 and Chambers Global 2011, with the comment that "Sources praise his international mindset and thorough approach" as well as in (c) Chambers Asia-Pacific 2010 and Chambers Global 2010, where he has been described as being "Recognised for [his] "strong knowledge of regulatory issues and practical approach" and winning "praise for [his] debt expertise".

In The Asia-Pacific Legal 500: The Guide to Asia's Commercial Law Firms (2010-2011), under the Banking, Finance and Capital Markets category, he has been described as "knowledgeable and responsive". He has also been cited as being "experience(d)" in The Asia-Pacific Legal 500: The Guide to Asia's Commercial Law Firms (2008-2009), under the Banking, Finance and Capital Markets category.