Darius Tay
Director

LL.B (Magna Cum Laude), SMU
B.C.L (Oxford)
Advocate & Solicitor, Singapore

One of the founders of BlackOak, Darius’ work focuses on special situations, including both contentious and non-contentious aspects of corporate restructuring and insolvency (“CRI”), banking and finance as well as mergers and acquisitions for special situations.

Darius also assists private equity and venture capitalist funds with their portfolio companies in terms of fund raising, corporate governance and all aspects of the portfolio companies business. In particular Darius has extensive experience with companies in logistics, FMCG and technology.

Darius was appointed to the Singapore Supreme Court’s Young Amicus Curiae Scheme in 2014. He acted as amicus curiae in the only reported Singapore judgment on the issue of testamentary capacity regarding the disposal of one’s Central Provident Fund (Singapore’s national retirement savings plan) monies and was also part of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore’s working committee on their amicus brief in Kao Chai Chau Linda v Fong Wai Lyn Carolyn and Others [2016] 1 SLR 21, a landmark Singapore decision on insolvency practitioners’ remuneration.

Darius is an experienced lawyer specialising in Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency and has been ranked in leading publications such as Chambers Asia Pacific, IFLR 1000, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Asia Law and, Best Lawyers. Darius was recently recognized as an emerging leader in ABI’s “40 Under 40” Class of 2024 being the first Singaporean in the history of the award to be so honoured.

Contact Information
DID: (65) 6521 6747
FAX: (65) 6443 0887
EML: darius.tay@blackoak-llc.com

A recognised and respected lawyer in the Singapore corporate restructuring and insolvency scene, Darius handles both contentious and non-contentious aspects of the practice both domestic and international. He works closely with local and international counsel.

“Darius remains calm under pressure and is an excellent negotiator, knowing when to be firm and robust on key issues and which points can be horse-traded.“

“Darius possesses excellent technical ability and commercial awareness. He is also diligent, responsive and dedicated.“

– Chambers Asia-Pacific Guide 2025
“Incredibly hard-working, dedicated to getting the client what they need and super-fast and flexible. He is the best!”
– Asialaw 2024
“Darius Tay, described as the chess grandmaster of restructuring and insolvency in Southeast Asia”
– Legal 500 2025
“BlackOak’s approach is always bespoke and solution-driven. In particular, I work very closely with Darius Tay (a Director of the firm), he is the lawyer who is truly a partner of his clients. The quality of advice given by him is fantastic as it takes into account both legal and commercial factors which is exactly what we need from our advisors. We can always count on him to be by our side in “the trenches” providing us great advice and solutions in difficult fluid situations.”
– IFLR
“A superstar with a powerful combination of legal knowledge, commercial savvy and gravitas in court.”
– GRR 100 2024

Recent Deals

  • Advising No Va Land, Vietnam’s leading mid-market residential real estate developer and investment corporation which has in excess of US 10 billion worth of debt, in its landmarked prepackaged scheme of arrangement of its US$300 million New York law governed convertible bonds which received 100% support by its voting bond holders. The scheme was the first restructuring filed in the Singapore International Commercial Court and was approved within 15 days of the application being made. 
  • Acting for Nam Cheong Limited (with liabilities amounting to over RM1.5 billion) in the successful restructuring of the Nam Cheong Group. BlackOak successfully obtained recognition from the Singapore High Court for the NCL Malaysia-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border insolvency as enacted under Singapore Law being what is understood as the first Malaysian scheme approval order being recognised and given effect to in Singapore. 
  • Spearheading the restructuring of the Yang Kee Group, and collaborated and worked with the group’s international advisors, Hogan Lovells and Webb Henderson. Advising the Yang Kee Group on its investor search process to find potential investors in order to recapitalise its capital structure. Advising on various other matters including the restructuring of debts valued at approximately S$450 million, the sale of existing assets and taking on additional facilities, in order to facilitate the overall restructuring process.  
  • Advising the Liquidators of ITNL Offshore Pte. Ltd. and ITNL International Pte. Ltd which are both Singapore subsidiaries of the India incorporated Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) group which collapse involved claims of 1 Trillion INR.    
  • Advising judicial manager/liquidator within the Eqonex Group on various aspects of the judicial management / liquidation of the former crytoassets exchange involving complex issued of distribution of crytoassets to customers. 
  • Advising the liquidators of Midas Holdings Limited, a leading manufacturer of aluminium alloy extruded products for the passenger rail transportation sector in China formerly listed on the stock exchange. There was successfully obtained significant third-party funding obtained for the liquidation of the company and I represented the liquidator in successfully obtaining orders for the disclosure of audit working papers, which involved a detailed analysis of (i) the extra-territorial effect of the now repealed section 285 of the Companies Act 1967, and (ii) Chinese State Secret laws and their interaction with any potential Court order by the Singapore Court.

Appointments

  • Chairperson – Solicitor Account Rules Committee of the Law Society of Singapore
  • Member, Insolvency Practice Committee of the Law Society of Singapore
  • Member, Singapore Academy of Law
  • Supreme Court Insolvency and Restructuring Court Users’ Committee (IRCUC)
  • Member of the International Insolvency Institute (III) NextGen Leadership Program
  • Member of the Organising Committee for the III’s24th Annual Conference to be held in 2024 (Singapore)
  • Member of the Insolvency Practitioner’s Association of Singapore (IPAS) and founding Co-Chairperson of IPAS – Young Insolvency Practitioner Committee (YIPC), 2019 – 2023.
  • Young Amicus Curiae, 2014-2015

Recent Accolades

  • American Bankruptcy Institute 40 under 40 2024
  • Top 40 Under 40 – Asia Pacific Award, Benchmark Litigation 2024
  • Highly Regarded Lawyer (Restructuring and Insolvency), IFLR1000 2025
  • Band 3 Ranked Lawyer (Restructuring / Insolvency), Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific Guide 2025
  • Litigation Star (Insolvency, Singapore), Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific, 2024
  • Next Generation Partner (Restructuring & Insolvency), The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2025
  • Distinguished Practitioner (Restructuring & Insolvency, Singapore), Asialaw 2024
  • Top 25 Leading Restructuring and Insolvency Lawyers in Southeast Asia, Who’s Who in Legal, 2022