Wai Ming Yap counsels clients on a broad range of corporate transactions, with a focus on merger and acquisition transactions, covering both public and private transactions, fund management, and general corporate and commercial transactions. Wai Ming’s experience spans more than 35 years of managing sophisticated corporate transactions in Singapore and Malaysia, advising major corporations on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), takeovers, delistings, privatizations, and corporate restructuring and reorganizations.
Wai Ming’s practice encompasses corporate finance and advising corporates on debt capital–raising (including Islamic finance) transactions, fintech, digital asset–related matters, securities, and debt restructuring matters. He also advises on issues pertaining to the establishment of investment funds across a wide range of strategies, including private equity, venture capital, impact, and real estate. His experience extends to downstream investments and divestment transactions undertaken by such funds.
Leveraging on his cross-disciplinary practice experience, Wai Ming is also one of the very few Gaming and Gambling practitioners ranked by leading legal publications in the Asia Pacific. Wai Ming is the author of several gaming-related papers, sits on the editorial board of Gaming Law Review and Economics, and is the editor of Asian Gaming Lawyer: Gambling Legal Developments in Asia Pacific.
Wai Ming’s dedicated and practical approach to guiding clients’ multifaceted corporate transactions has earned him recognition by legal industry publications. He is ranked as a leading M&A lawyer in Asia by leading legal publications such as Chambers Asia-Pacific, IFLR1000, Legal 500, Asialaw Leading Lawyers, and Best Lawyers in Singapore.
Chambers Global and Chambers Asia-Pacific have also recognized him as a leading lawyer in gaming and gambling law in the Asia-Pacific region. Chambers Global described him as “straightforward, eager to find solutions, and deeply involved”; Chambers Asia-Pacific mentioned him as having “quick turnaround time and ability to provide clarity and solutions”; and IFLR 1000 noted that he is “dexterous, intelligent and easy going.”
He is the immediate past Secretary-General of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association and a former Singapore member of the International Masters of Gaming Law. He also serves on the boards of a number of charities in Singapore, namely Ren Ci Hospital, the SingHealth Foundation, Stroke Support Station, Vanguard Medifund, and Vanguard Healthcare Group.
Recognized, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, The Best Lawyers in Singapore (2022)
Highly Regarded, IFLR1000 Financial and Corporate (2019–2023)
Ranked, Gaming & Gambling, Asia-Pacific Region, Chambers Asia-Pacific (2021–2023)
Ranked, Corporate/M&A: Domestic, Singapore, Chambers Asia-Pacific (2009–2019, 2021–2024)
Ranked, Asia-Pacific Region: Gaming & Gambling; Singapore: Corporate/M&A: Domestic, Chambers Asia-Pacific (2018, 2020)
Band 1, Gaming & Gambling, Asia-Pacific Region, Chambers Asia-Pacific (2019)
Band 1, Gaming & Gambling, Asia-Pacific Region, Chambers Global (2018, 2019)
Ranked, Gaming & Gambling, Asia-Pacific Region, Chambers Global (2020–2023)
Ranked, Corporate/M&A: Domestic, Singapore, Chambers Global (2018, 2020–2022, 2024)
Leading Individual, Corporate and M&A: Local Firms, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2005–2024)
Recommended, Asset Finance: Foreign Firms, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2024)
Recommended, Labour and Employment: Local Firms, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2024)
Recommended, Banking and Finance: Local Firms, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2018, 2019)
Recommended, Shipping: Local Firms, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2018)
A-List, Top 100 Lawyers in Singapore, Asia Business Law Journal (2018)
Recognized, IFLR1000: The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms (2014–2016, 2018)
Leading Individual, Corporate/M&A, Chambers Global (2009–2017)
Leading Individual, Gaming & Gambling, Chambers Global (2014–2017)
Leading Individual, General Business Law, Macau, Chambers Global (2017)