Duane Morris and Selvam

May 24, 2022May 24, 2022 by Duane Morris & Selvam

Duane Morris & Selvam Advises on India’s Biggest IPO Ever

SINGAPORE, 24 May 2022 – Duane Morris & Selvam LLP acted as international legal counsel to the President of India and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on the recent sale of 3.5% of the outstanding shares in LIC by the president of India for approximately US$2.7 billion in an initial public offering in India and concurrent private placements outside India, including a Rule 144A offering in the United States. LIC’s IPO is the biggest in Indian history. The scale of the IPO was immense, with over 7 million applications received from retail investors in India alone. On its listing, LIC was the fifth largest entity in India in terms of market capitalization.

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May 13, 2022 by Duane Morris & Selvam

Rise of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in Singapore

During the recent Budget announcement in February this year, Minister of Finance Lawrence Wong stated that Singapore will aim to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by or around 2050, in line with our commitment to address the challenges of climate change.

Presently, the bulk of Singapore’s energy supply comes from natural gas, and the power sector accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s total emissions. This paired with growing environmental awareness in Singapore have started putting pressure on organisations to meet clean energy goals as investors and customers become more vocal about the importance of using green energy. This growing pressure from stakeholders has led to a rise in the use of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) by businesses, as a means of fulfilling their sustainability commitments and reducing their carbon footprint.

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May 13, 2022July 25, 2022 by Duane Morris & Selvam

区块链技术和NFT在新加坡的发展和规范

自2008年第一个数字货币比特币诞生以来，区块链技术在各个领域的应用都有了长足的发展。新加坡作为亚洲金融中心之一，也吸引了众多软件技术人员和投资者从事区块链技术相关的金融行业，包括NFT （非同质化代币）。NFT 市场既可以是Axie Infinity这种可以赚取数字资产的游戏平台，也可以是NBA TopShot 这种收藏品交易平台，还可以是Decentraland 和Earth 2这种可以进行数字财产买卖的元宇宙平台。

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May 13, 2022May 13, 2022 by Duane Morris & Selvam

An Overview on Development and Regulations of Blockchain Technology and NFTs in Singapore

Since the birth of the first digital currency, Bitcoin, in 2008, blockchain technology has developed significantly in various fields. As one of the financial hubs of Asia, Singapore has also attracted a wide range of software professionals and investors in the financial services industry involving blockchain technologies and nonfungible tokens (NFT). NFT marketplaces can be either gaming platforms for earning digital assets like Axie Infinity, collectibles trading platforms like NBA TopShot or metaverse platforms like Decentraland and Earth 2 where virtual properties can be bought and sold.

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May 5, 2022 by Duane Morris & Selvam

新加坡私募和风投行业系列 – 简介篇

近年来，新加坡已迅速成长为全球资产管理行业（资管行业）的中心，众多投资者和资管经理汇集于此。2020 年，新加坡的资产管理总额 (AUM) 增长了 17%，达 4.7 万亿新元，高于 2019 年的 4万亿新元¹。这种强劲的增长是由大量流入的传统和另类投资资金所驱动的，包括私募股权 (私募) 和风险投资 (风投)。那一年，私募和风投的资产管理总额分别增长了 54% 和 49%，达到 3,750 亿新元和 160 亿新元。我们认为，新加坡资产管理规模将在未来几年将持续保持增长势头。

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April 25, 2022July 6, 2022 by Duane Morris & Selvam

Singapore Private Equity and Venture Capital Landscape Series – A Brief Introduction

Singapore’s asset management industry has fast become a global hub for investors and managers and is central to the country’s financial services industry. In 2020, total assets under management (AUM) in Singapore grew 17 percent to reach S$4.7 trillion, up from S$4.0 trillion in 2019[1]. This robust growth was driven by strong inflows into both traditional and alternative investment strategies, including the private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) asset classes. PE and VC AUM grew by 54 percent and 49 percent to S$375 billion and S$16 billion, respectively, in that year. In our view, the size of the industry in Singapore will continue to grow in the coming years.

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April 22, 2022April 25, 2023 by Duane Morris & Selvam

新加坡家办门槛提高——深度解析金管局新政的底层逻辑

这几天，全网都在疯传下面这张图。不可否认最近移民突然成了热门话题！

4月11日，我们收到了新加坡金管局一封邮件，内容是关于新加坡家办13O/U计划的门槛大幅提高。大概就是图中戴教授所指的消息了。但是戴教授的表述不太严谨，新加坡家办免税计划并不是投资移民，实际上新加坡的投资移民难度远高于此。

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April 13, 2022April 25, 2023 by Duane Morris & Selvam

MAS amends Sections 13O & 13U Application Guidelines for Family Offices in Singapore

MAS Amends Sections 13O and 13U Application Guidelines for Family Offices in Singapore

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has amended its requirements for family offices[1] applying for tax incentive schemes pursuant to Sections 13O and 13U of the Income Tax Act 1947 (the Act). The following amended policies apply to all first preliminary submissions received by MAS on or after 18 April 2022 for these schemes, and MAS may require applications that have received no communication from MAS for a span of at least six months to be resubmitted under the amended guidelines. The following applications are not subject to the amended policies:

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March 14, 2022April 13, 2022 by Duane Morris & Selvam

Singapore Implements Sanctions Against Russia

Ever since Russia’s act of aggression against Ukraine that began on 24 February 2022, the United States and several of its key allies have successively imposed significant sanctions against Russia. These sanctions range from prohibitions on trade and investment in certain regions of Ukraine and the designation of specific nationals that cannot interact with the market and financial system of United States, to imposing new sovereign debt restrictions and even cutting Russia further off from the global economy by removing them from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (aka SWIFT) messaging system and disconnecting them from the international financial system, making them no longer able to operate globally. On 8 March 2022, the Biden administration also announced that the United States would be banning the import of Russian oil.

Singapore has joined these efforts, with Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan issuing a Ministerial Statement in Parliament on 28 February 2022, stating that Singapore intends to impose its own sanctions against Russia. On 5 March 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued a press statement with two factsheets that set out the details of the economic sanctions and restrictions.

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March 8, 2022March 8, 2022 by Philip K. Yu

The Metaverse and Its IP Implications – It is still a “Wild, Wild West” out there

The topic of the Metaverse has generated a great deal of enthusiasm and debate in recent months. For example, Facebook changed its name to “Meta” with lots of fanfare. In another headline, Nike purchased an NFT (non-fungible token) designer company, RTFKT Studios, and appeared ready to use virtual athletic shoe NFTs to generate exposure, as well as to begin selling virtual shoes. Also, a personal injury law ﬁrm in New Jersey decided to open an oﬃce in Decentraland, claiming to be the ﬁrst-ever personal injury law ﬁrm in the Metaverse.

Even more recently, as of the week of 2 February 2022, a major law ﬁrm is opening a virtual oﬃce in the Metaverse in the fashion and retail district of browser-based 3D platform Decentraland.[1][2] It is the ﬁrst major law ﬁrm to open in the Metaverse.

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