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. A key component of Darius’ practice is advising various fund managers on both compliance and regulatory matters as well as issues arising from their investments and portfolio companies and working with various debtor companies.

As a separate component of Darius’ practice, he works closely with various start-ups, especially those in the logistics field, advising them with all aspects of their business including regulatory and business contracts as well as assisting them with corporate governance and fund raising. 

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 Asia Law, Chambers Asia Pacific, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Best Lawyers and IFLR 1000. Darius’s recent notable clients/deals include, amongst others: Nam Cheong Limited, Bain Capital, Yang Kee Logistics Pte Ltd, Eqonex Limited and the Singapore Cube Highway Entities (i.e., Cube Highways and Infrastructure Pte. Ltd., Cube Highways and Infrastructure II Pte. Ltd., Cube Highways and Infrastructure III Pte. Ltd.).

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 is very smart and comes up with creative solutions. He thinks creatively around the problem and knows what needs to be done to unlock a difficult situation.”
– Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific 2024
“It is a pleasure working with Darius. He provides quick turnaround times and valuable input.”
– Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific 2024
“Darius Tay is able to work through complexities and foresee potential risks, issues and counter-arguments before they arise, and he is calmness personified.”
– Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific Guide 2022
“He (Darius) is a lawyer who is truly a partner with his clients. The quality of advice is fantastic, taking into account both legal and commercial factors. We can always count on him to be by our side in the trenches providing us with great advice and solutions.”
– Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific Guide 2021
“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 1000
“Responsiveness, knowledge of the law.”
– Asialaw Profiles
Darius Tay advises on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious restructuring matters, with clients describing him as ‘very commercially aware’ and ‘client-oriented’. Other interviewees report that he is ‘technically brilliant’ and ‘extremely good at transaction management’.
– Chambers and Partners
Director Darius Tay ‘is a lawyer that every client would want in their corner’ and has ‘impeccable knowledge and commercial awareness’ and the ‘solutions he provides are never cookie-cutter’.
– Legal 500

Recent Deals

  • Advising Nam Cheong Limited (“NCL”), a Bermudian incorporated company listed on the Main Board of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited and the ultimate holding company of approximately 36 entities incorporated across various jurisdictions, on the Singapore aspects of the restructuring of Nam Cheong Group, including coordinating the general strategy in Singapore with the developments in Malaysia, restructuring their debts via the CDRC and the restructuring of its existing liabilities with the Chinese state-owned shipyards.
  • Advising a private equity fund on the refinancing of a SGD 300 million senior secured term loan facility in relation to its investment in a private international education entity.
  • Advising and representing the liquidators of Vanguard Energy Pte Ltd (a company with revenues in excess of USD 1 billion) in various aspects of a complex liquidation.
  • Acting for BLD Investments Pte Ltd in relation to the restructuring of its Guaranteed Equity Linked Bonds, guaranteed by PT Bakrieland Development Tbk.
  • Acting for an informal steering committee of holders of USD 150 million, 8.75% senior secured bonds due 2018 in relation to Miclyn Express Offshore Pte Ltd’s restructuring exercise.
  • Acting as local counsel to Glencore Singapore on the contentious restructuring of Jurong Aromatics Corporation.
  • Advising I.M. Skaugen SE on its application for moratorium orders under S211B Companies Act. This application was significant as it was the first to be brought by a foreign company. The ensuing reported judgment in Re IM Skaugen SE [2018] SGHC 259 currently stands as the leading decision in Singapore law on the extraterritorial effect of a worldwide moratorium and the statutory interpretation of S211B(4) Companies Act.
  • Advising Yang Kee Logistics Pte Ltd, a leading end-to-end global supply chain logistics business with a global presence in multiple countries including Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Thailand, and its group of companies on its restructuring in connection with Singapore including advising the group on its investor search process, to recapitalise the capital structure of the group and the restructuring of debts valued at approximately S$450 million.
  • Advising Eqonex Limited, a company previously listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange with primary operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Vietnam, and its group of companies on the Singapore law aspects of the restructuring of the Eqonex Group, particularly on its interim judicial management, judicial management and voluntary liquidation processes under the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018, advising the company on the settlement of its debts of over USD 18 million with is key creditor and on devising structures to raise new monies to facilitate the rescue of the valuable business of the company and its group of companies.
  • Advising the liquidators of Eqonex Capital Pte. Ltd., the entity responsible for the OTC business operations of the Eqonex Group in Singapore which previously operated a digital assets trading platform, on the distribution of the company’s remaining digital assets in connection with its eventual dissolution.
  • Advising the liquidators of Midas Holdings Limited, a leading manufacturer of aluminium alloy extruded products for the passenger rail transportation sector in China, on the liquidation of the Company and to assess the potential claims against the company’s auditors. BlackOak successfully obtained significant third-party funding for the liquidation of the company and represented the liquidator in the application 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.
  • Leading the restructuring of Kreuz Subsea Group Pte Ltd, a leading global integrated subsea services business and an active player in the regional subsea, offshore and marine diving space and advising on the restructuring of the Kreuz Group’s existing loan facilities and cross-border security arrangements totalling in excess of US 255 million as well as the negotiations for the new financing of approximately US 70 million.
  • Advising Cube Highways Trust, an infrastructure investment trust (“InvIT”) in India which is said to hold the biggest portfolio of road assets to be put under the InvIT structure so far in India, with a diversified portfolio of 18 toll and annuity road assets with an aggregate length of 1,423.60 kilometres, on the Singapore law aspects and providing a Singapore law legal opinion, a condition precedent of the InvIT in India, on the capacity of the Singapore Cube Highways Entities to enter into certain transactions and the enforceability of such transactions relating to the InvIT in India.

Appointments

  • 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, NextGen Committee, Turnaround Management Association (South East Asia)
  • Member of the International Insolvency Institute (III) and the III’s NextGen Leadership Program
  • Co-chairman in Organising Committee for the III’s 24th Annual Conference to be held in 2024 (Singapore)
  • Member of the Insolvency Practitioner’s Association of Singapore (IPAS) and Founding Executive Committee Member and the Chairperson of IPAS – Young Insolvency Practitioner Committee (YIPC), 2019 – 2023. 
  • Young Amicus Curiae, 2014-2015

Recent Accolades

  • Band 3 Ranked Lawyer (Restructuring / Insolvency), Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific Guide 2024
  • Highly Regarded Lawyer (Restructuring and Insolvency, Singapore), IFLR1000 2023
  • Litigation Star (Insolvency, Singapore), Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific 2023
  • Distinguished Practitioner (Restructuring and Insolvency, Singapore), Asialaw Profiles 2023
  • Next Generation Partner (Restructuring & Insolvency: Locals Firms – Singapore), The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2023