There is unanimous respect in the market for dispute resolution boutique firm Providence Law and its managing director and senior counsel, Abraham Vergis. Its team is routinely sought after by international law firms for counsel work and is experienced in cross-border disputes. Since being established in 2012, the firm has grown to 18 Singapore-qualified lawyers and is expanding its pool of foreign-qualified practitioners. The firm often takes on briefs of a size, complexity and value which exceeds its stature, often from global clients that are based in jurisdictions such as the Jordan, Seychelles, Australia, Switzerland and the US.
Apart from Vergis, other notable directors are international arbitration expert Jiaxiang Zhuo and counsel Wei Shing Ngo. Director Vanathi Ray joined at the beginning of 2022 from Joseph Lopez. Other recent mid-level counsel hires include Priscilla Chia from Peter Low & Choo, Hari Veluri from TSMP and Leo Zhi Wei. The new arrivals all bring significant experience in a wide range of civil and commercial disputes at all levels of the Singapore courts and in international and domestic arbitration proceedings. Insolvency specialist Nawaz Kamil left the firm in May 2023.
In one complex, transnational dispute, the team is assisting PDV Marina, a subsidiary of the national oil company of Venezuela, PDV SA. These entities are ultimately owned by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. PDV Marina had over $40 million being held by a liquidator in Singapore, who had difficulties in releasing these monies to PDV Marina because of the US sanctions imposed against Venezuela and PDV SA. The US sanction issue was before the Singapore Court where the firm acted as lead counsel in assisting the client to secure a release of these funds. Novel conflicts of laws issues were decided by the Singapore courts for the first time on matters relating to whether a foreign entity can be regarded as an extension of a foreign state such that the state's liabilities can be imposed on the entity. The decision will have significant impact on the extent to which the liabilities of foreign states can be sought to be imposed on the commercial entities in which the foreign state has some interest.
In another matter, Vergis and the team is acting for BlackRock and Ares SSG in relation to a S$50 million ($37.5 million) loan facility provided by a consortium of high-profile lenders in an application to place the borrower company into judicial management so as to restructure the debtors’ liabilities. This is a unique case in that one of the key bases for a judicial management order was predicated on a total loss of trust and confidence in the debtor’s management. It also engaged Indian law issues as to whether the appointment of a judicial manager could amount to a change of control under the Indian takeover regulations.
Recent clients include Agritrade Resources, JSC Zvezda Far Eastern Shipyard, PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Working Capitol Group and Ventureast Proactive Fund II.
